Abstract
The paper draws attention to alternative resolutions of civil disputes by social mediation in civil law. The main objective of the study was to map incidence of the most frequently resolved civil disputes, and their categorization in mediation conferences from the perspective of mediators who are registered under a personal evidence number by the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic. The sample included 104 (n=104) purposefully selected mediators. Statistical analyses showed interesting facts such as advantages of mediation conferences versus court hearings, advantages of the process in the mediation conferences related to the client, positive outcomes of mediation services related to time of conferences, agreements, and communication with reflexion on the case, the importance and need of social mediation services in civil law in our society.
Keywords: Disputecivil lawmediation conferencessocial negotiationmediatorcivil disputes
Social mediation services in civil disputes in Slovakia
Mediation service in civil law is a process, which emphasizes responsibility of the parties for their
decisions which will influence their lives. A mediation conference consists of specific stages and
techniques, which allow meeting important tasks. It is a final process, which brings concrete outcomes
depending on the values, norms and principles of all the parties in the mediation process. Mediation
service focused on the future is an organic part of the policy to enhance the access of the citizen to
justice, which is a basic right for all citizens in accordance with the Article 6 of the European
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. A bill on mediation was
justified also from the point of view of synchronization of new legislation related to the entry of
Slovakia (01.05.2004) into the European Union with its legislation and international standards. From
February 2002 to March 2003, the Ministry of Justice conducted a project as a part of bilateral
cooperation with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland where mediation has a
long tradition. Mediators in criminal processes state that if the offenders face a direct contact with the
victims, they can understand harmfulness of their actions, which educates the offenders (Welsh, Nancy
A, 2002, Wissler, Roselle L, 2001, Vanková, K., 2014). Their participation in reaching an agreement
on compensation results in the fact that the offender takes responsibility for the crime and a tendency to
pay damages is, in this case, affected not only by court decisions but also their own efforts; in the
mediation process, they can also comment on the amount of compensation and they have also an
opportunity to express their emotions related to psychological harm to the victim. On the
Recommendation Rec (2002)10 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on mediation in civil
matters and also by strengthening the access to justice, a project was conducted in Slovakia; it is
significant for legislation of mediation in civil law. We can state that mediation uses the knowledge
from law, philosophy, sociology, economy, anthropology, social disciplines, and psychology – thus
mediation is a scientific interdisciplinary field, which results in the fact that mediation allows the
parties to understand the dispute and its consequences better, allows them to participate in elimination
of the dispute under the conditions that are agreed on between the parties instead of giving the
possibility to decide about unpredictable outcomes by a judge or a jury where one party is a winner and
the other is a loser (Tyler, Tom R.,1997). Social mediation service in civil law in perception of
interpersonal relationships suggests the most frequently used alternative ways of dealing with the
conflict including facilitation, negotiation, conciliation, mini-tribunal, arbitration, expertize, med-arb,
arb-med, and mediation.
Mediators in civil law deal with the disputes, conflicts and problems which result from the
contractual relationships in various scopes: civil, family, employment, business; they deal with the
cross-border disputes and school-related problems using the peer mediation conferences (Vanková,
2015). Social mediation process is based on respect to the parties, their abilities, responsibility for their
lives, and their own judgement of their needs (Sandefur, & Rebecca L., 2010).
Adoption of the Act No. 420/2004 Coll. on mediation in the legislation of the Slovak Republic
reflected an intention to reduce the number of court actions and the length of court proceedings;
mediation in civil law should significantly reduce the extreme overload in judicial system.
In the paper we focus on dealing with the civil conflicts and disputes through mediation –
mediation conferences; the main objective is to map incidence of the most common civil disputes in
mediation conferences from the point of view of mediators registered under a personal evidence
number by the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic.
According to the section 99(1) of the Act No. 99/1963 Coll. the third sentence reads:
Mediation is used as an alternative to court proceedings by most of the Member States of the
European Union.
Applied mediation is not used with the same intensity in the countries using it. It develops
differently in each of the implemented areas, depending on the specificity of the conditions. In Norway,
it has more than a two-hundred-year tradition, particularly in mediation focused on care for the minors.
A committee of mediators decides about the issues of education, subsistence, and contact with children
up to 16 years of age. In Oslo itself, there are three municipal family counselling offices. The key roles
are played by psychologists, social workers, and mediators (Vanková, 2015).
1.1 Conflicts – the most common issues in interpersonal relationships
Civil conflicts that are resolved through mediation include: neighbourhood relationships (animals,
noise, parking, property management conditions), youth (petty arguments, group activities, conflicts
with institutions), conflicts between citizens and institutions in their neighbourhood such as schools,
entertainment centres, shopping centres, trespassing, damage to property, noise nuisance at night hours;
civil disputes such as settlement of a tenancy by entirety after a divorce, or cancelling a tenancy by
entirety of a couple, settlement of the inheritance; encumbrance, rent relations, rights and obligations of
the owners of residential and non-residential premises, etc. (Vanková, K, 2015, Pleasence, P, Nigel B,
Alexy B, 2006, Woods, L, 1985).
The above mentioned conflicts occur between the tenants and landlords, the tenants themselves, the
tenants and other state and non-state organizations. Mediation can be used in the disputes that are
resolved by specific commissions at municipal offices. “The Civil Code regulates property relations of
the natural persons and legal persons, property relations between the persons and the state, as well as
relations resulting from the right of protection of persons, if these civil relations are not regulated by
other acts. Regulation of civil relations contributes to meeting the civil rights and freedoms,
particularly protection of personality and inviolability of property” (Občiansky zákonník č. 40/1964
Zb.; Civil Code No 40/1964 Coll.; translated by the author).
Other civil disputes include all disputes which result from infringement of rights of persons living
in certain relationships in a community; they are called community disputes of house owners resulting
from contracts about property management, disturbed relations between neighbours because of
animals, noise, parking, trespassing, damage to property, and noise nuisance at night hours.
The aim of social mediation service is to guide the parties to be able to deal with the conflicts; the
basis is to gain or restore the ability to be responsible for one’s actions.
Sometimes, just talking to neighbours can help because they probably do not realize that their
behaviour causes annoyance. This would resolve the problem. But sometimes it is necessary to deal
with the situation by legal action.
The main study objective was to map incidence of the most frequently resolved civil disputes in
mediation conferences from the perspective of mediators who are registered under a personal evidence
number by the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic. In the study, it is interesting to compare the
responds by the male mediators and female mediators. In the study, we compare how many mediation
cases were resolved by male mediators and female mediators. The findings show how often the female
and male mediators were contacted to resolve civil disputes.
There are four partial objectives:
O1: To find out the most common civil disputes.
O2: To find out the outcomes of the most of the cases at the end of mediation process in civil
disputes.
O3: To find out the time frame necessary to obtain a successful outcome of mediation process in
civil disputes.
O4: To find out advantages of mediation versus court proceedings from the perspective of
mediators.
Methods
2.1 Sample
The basic criterion for sampling was being registered in the Register of Mediators at the Ministry of
Justice of the Slovak Republic. A designed questionnaire was sent to the purposefully selected
mediators. The sample included 104 (n=104; 100%) purposefully selected mediators. There were 39
(n1=39; 37.50%) men and 65 (n2=65; 62.50%) women (see Table
An average age was 41.67 years (SD=10.46). The youngest respondent was 24 years old and the oldest
one was 60 years old.
2.2 Tool
In the study, we used a designed anonymous questionnaire that was emailed to 250 mediators. It
consisted of introduction (the purpose), identification items (age, gender), and 16 matter-of-fact items
(specific questions on the issue) including 6 open-ended and 10 closed-ended questions.
The obtained data are presented in the tables.
2.3 Time frame
The questionnaire was designed in accordance with the objectives and research questions in
January. It was emailed to 250 mediators in February. The questionnaire can be completed within 15
minutes. We received 104 (41.6%) completed questionnaires.
Results
3.1 The most common civil disputes
The first partial objective examines the most common civil disputes.
The Table
neighbourhood disputes. In their practice, 45% of the respondents did not help to resolve
neighbourhood disputes. All 104 respondents answered this question. A chi-squared test showed that
x2=1.13. The test value is lower than the critical value at the 5% significance level with 1df, which
means the result is not statistically significant.
The Table
Yes, which means they helped resolve inheritance disputes; 58% of the respondents (24 men and 36
women; 60 respondents) did not help resolve inheritance disputes. A chi-squared test showed that
x2=0.37. The test value is lower than the critical value at the 5% significance level with 1df, which
means the result is not statistically significant.
All 104 mediators answered this open-ended question. Many respondents offered several answers,
so there are 111 responds. A chi-squared test showed that x2=106.79. The test value is higher than the
critical value at the 1% significance level with 4df, which means the result is statistically significant.
The results show that the most frequently solved disputes in mediation were property disputes (53
(47%) respondents). The second most common disputes were neighbourhood disputes (44 (39%)
respondents).
This question was used as a control question. The results for this question were the same as the results
for the question on the most commonly resolved civil disputes in mediation.
The Table
Yes, which means that the civil disputes mostly resulted in agreements; 13% of the mediators (5 men
and 9 women; 14 respondents) answered No, which means that the civil disputes mostly did not result
in agreements; 8% of the respondents (3 men and 5 women; 8 respondents) answered Do not know,
which means they did not know the outcomes of the civil disputes. A chi-squared test showed that
x2=0.02. The test value is lower than the critical value at the 5% significance level with 2df, which
means the result is not statistically significant.
3.2.2 Outcomes at the end of mediation process
Up to 13% of the mediators (5 men and 9 women; 14 respondents) answered Yes, which means that
the civil disputes finish without agreements; 79% of the respondents (31 men and 51 women; 82
respondents) answered No, which means that the civil disputes result in agreements; 8% of the
respondents (3 men and 5 women; 8 respondents) answered Do not know, which means that they did
not know the outcomes of the civil disputes. All 104 respondents answered this question. A chi-squared
test showed that x2=0.02. The test value is lower than the critical value at the 5% significance level
with 2df, which means the result is not statistically significant.
This question was used as a control question. The results for this question were the same as the results
for the question if the civil disputes mostly result in agreements.
3.2.3 The most common reasons of mediation failures
Unwillingness to reach agreement was stated as the most common cause of mediation failure by 91
(87%) mediators; 12 (12%) mediators stated unwillingness to use mediation was the most common
cause of mediation failure; and one (1%) mediator stated that termination by a mediator was the most
common reason of mediation failure. A chi-squared test showed that x2=137.26. The test value is
higher than the critical value at the 1% significance level with 2df, which means the result is
statistically significant.
questions were used.
The Table
in average; 27 (26%) respondents stated that one mediation conference lasts 90 minutes in average; two
(2%) respondents stated that one mediation conference lasts 30 minutes in average; three (3%)
respondents stated that one mediation conference lasts 180 minutes in average; and four (4%)
respondents stated that it is individual and it depends on a dispute and parties.
3.3.2 Resolving disputes after the first mediation conference
All 104 mediators answered the question if the disputes can be resolved after the first mediation
conference. The Table
answered Certainly not; and four (4%) respondents were not able to say.
All 104 mediators answered the question how many mediation conferences are necessary for successful dispute resolution. It was a multiple choice question, so there were 161 answers. The Table
Discussion
The main study objective was to map incidence of the most frequently resolved civil disputes in
mediation conferences from the perspective of male and female mediators.
There were four partial objectives. The first partial objective was to find out the most common civil disputes. The second partial objective was to find out the outcomes of the most of the cases at the end of mediation process in civil disputes. The third partial objective was to find out the time frame necessary to obtain a successful outcome of mediation process in civil disputes. The fourth partial objective was to find out advantages of mediation versus court proceedings from the perspective of mediators.
There are many disputes between people but not everybody knows they can be resolved out of court. The first pilot projects on mediation in Slovakia were in 2002. The biphasic project
that only about 40% of the addressed mediators responded.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can state that the most common civil disputes are property disputes; most of the disputes result in agreement; one mediation conference lasts 60 minutes in average; the disputes can be solved already after the first mediation conference; there are three mediation conferences necessary to resolve the disputes successfully; and mediation is faster and cheaper than court proceedings.
We came to the conclusion that mediation service in civil law offers a new way of dealing with disputes, conflicts and problems. It expresses autonomy of the parties and provides them with contractual freedom. Mediation in civil law fills the gap between unsuccessful attempts to resolve the problems by the parties themselves and resolving the problem by the third party – an authority. We have to mention the fact that it is the best and universal way of resolving disputes. Court proceedings cannot be fully replaced by any out-of-court alternatives; however, using mediation in civil law can help reduce the number of less complex disputes resolved at courts.
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Cite this article as:
Vankova, K. (2016). Study of Civil Dispute Resolutions by Social Mediation Services in Civil Law. In Z. Bekirogullari, M. Y. Minas, & R. X. Thambusamy (Eds.), Cognitive - Social, and Behavioural Sciences - icCSBs 2016, May, vol 8. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 76-89). Future Academy. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2016.05.9