Roles of Judges, Lawyers and Parties in Fact-Finding in Civil Procedures. Developments in Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands

This contribution elaborates on the findings of a recent comparative research project on developments in the roles of judges, parties, and lawyers in the fact-finding process in Belgian, Dutch, French, and German civil procedural law. In theory, the need for efficiency and growing wish to guarantee certain rights has led these four legal systems to adopt similar measures where the roles of the judge and the parties are concerned: they have expanded both the managerial powers of the judge and the procedural duties of the parties. In practice, however, these measures play out quite differently. However: the views on the role of the lawyer in first instance civil proceedings seem to be shifting in different directions.