Why you should care that our civil-justice system is broken

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Canada is consistently touted as one of the best countries in which to live, but it ranks an unimpressive 112 out of 190 countries according to the World Bank’s enforcing contracts indicator. For good reason: Our civil-justice system is on the fritz. Litigating a civil claim (e.g. contract claim, property rights claim, etc.) can take many years and cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Although you may know about some of the problems plaguing our civil-justice system, you probably don’t care. In fact, you probably believe that this problem doesn’t affect you. You are wrong. An ineffective civil-justice system is bad for our economy, and everyone, including you, is affected by the strength of our economy.

As the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) explains, the ability to properly protect contractual and property rights encourages investment, promotes economic relationships and fosters innovation. The World Bank succinctly concludes that efficient contract enforcement is essential to economic development and sustained growth. To put it more bluntly, in order for our economy to function properly, people need to believe that contractual, property and other legal rights mean something. But they can only mean something if they are enforceable.

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This content has been updated on 09/08/2017 at 11 h 50 min.