Mediation and Fairness of the Decision to Resolve the Dispute

Abstract

The article discusses the issue of fairness of the decision to resolve a dispute in mediation. The discussion concerns mediation in civil cases. In civil law relations, referring to Aristotle’s classical distinction of distributive justice (iustitia distributiva) and corrective justice (iustitia commutativa), which is the starting point of any serious discussion of justice, it is corrective justice (iustitia commutativa) that is meant here. The author indicates the obstacles to the fairness of the decision to resolve a dispute in mediation, which are mainly the problems involving the findings of fact and the substance of the settlement. Moreover, the article discusses the issue of procedural justice whose norms (rules) are not implemented in mediation proceedings. In conclusion, the author claims that the essence of mediation in civil cases is not the pursuit of justice. Mediation does not assume that the resolution is to be fair, that is not the point here. It is emphasized, however, that the institution of mediation is necessary and has its advantages, but currently the practical importance of this form of dispute resolution in the Polish legal system is little.