About the Issue 1/2020

This year of 2020 two significant events will happen – an anniversary of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, better known as the European Convention on Human Rights and the finalization of the European Rules of Civil Procedure, which is being produced jointly by the European Law Institute (ELI) and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT). 

The role and meaning of these two events for the European and worldwide civil justice evolution is noteworthy: the European Convention on Human Rights is the cornerstone for a just and fair trial worldwide. The project ‘From Transnational Principles to European Rules of Civil Procedure’ started in 2013 and now has approached the most final stage. It is referred to as one of the most ambitious attempts to execute a common vision of contemporary civil justice, which is presently facing the challenges across Europe.

I am truly grateful to our artist, who has surprised and delighted us with a new inspiring cover design of AJEE 2020, helping to express all the most current legal science trends, in particular, the idea of unity and diversity in contemporary civil justice, which grew in national states of the XIX-XX centuries within their vision of unique peculiarities of litigation. Now the sustainable development of humanity requires a new vision of access to justice, which gives us a proper ground for reflection: what does a right to a fair trial mean in a sustainable world? How to avoid differences and inequality in a trial?