13: Legal capability and access to civil justice
Marc Galanter (1976, p.225) argued that lack of capability of parties represents “the most fundamental barrier” to access to law and that “upgrading” party capability is key to delivering “the benefits which access to law confers upon actors.” This chapter explores the concept of legal capability, e...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Online |
| Sprog: | engelsk |
| Udgivet: |
Edward Elgar Publishing
2026
|
| Fag: | |
| Online adgang: | https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/176469 |
| Tags: |
Ingen Tags, Vær først til at tagge denne postø!
|
| Summary: | Marc Galanter (1976, p.225) argued that lack of capability of parties represents “the most fundamental barrier” to access to law and that “upgrading” party capability is key to delivering “the benefits which access to law confers upon actors.” This chapter explores the concept of legal capability, explains how it links to Amartya Sen's (1999) ”capability approach” and sets out the key knowledge, skills and attributes “required for an individual to have an effective opportunity to make a decision about whether and how to make use of the justice system” (Pleasence et al. 2014, pp.123–4). This chapter also provides an overview of empirical findings showing how different dimensions of legal capability bear on people's ability to successfully navigate around and through the civil justiciable issues they may face. These findings include those of the Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS), a large-scale survey of legal capability conducted in Victoria, Australia, across 2022–23. |
|---|