University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Volume 9 1976 Small Claims Courts: An Overview and Recommendation Alexander Domanskis University of Michigan Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr Part of the Courts Commons, Rule of Law Commons, and the State and Local Government Law Commons Recommended Citation Alexander Domanskis, Small Claims Courts: An Overview and Recommendation, 9 U. MICH. J. L. REFORM 590 (1976). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr/vol9/iss3/5 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform by an authorized editor of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. SMALL CLAIMS COURTS: AN OVERVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION A... problem is to make adequate provision for petty litiga- tion, to provide for disposing quickly, inexpensively, and justly of the litigation of the poor, for the collection of debts in a shift- ing population, and for the great volume of small controversies which a busy, crowded population, diversified in race and lan- guage, necessarily engenders. It is here that the administration of justice touches immediately the greatest number of people. Roscoe Pound' Small claims courts have been in operation in the United States for over sixty years.2 They were established to function as inexpensive, efficient, and convenient forums for resolving claims which could not be brought eco- nomically in ordinary civil courts because of the costs and delays accom- 3 panying ordinary civil court proceedings.