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Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Definition of ADR


Alternative" dispute resolution is usually considered to be alternative to litigation. It also can be used as a colloquialism for allowing a dispute to drop or as an alternative to violence. In recent years there has been more discussion about taking a systems approach in order to offer different kinds of options to people who are in conflict, and to foster "appropriate" dispute resolution[1].
Alternative Dispute Resolution refers to the means of settling disputes without going through legal procedures. Through ADR settlement of disputes can be done in many formal and informal ways but here ADR emphasis is mainly on the settlement of disputes by local community initiatives. It is an age-old tradition of society through which disputes are resolved amicably and which concerned parties accept. Normally authority does not challenge it. It is not institutionalized, but both the community members and the disputants accept it. There are different ways to resolve disputes. Some are resolved formally, others informally, and some are resolved as time passes by.
ADR is a process which may be freestanding (non-judicial) or court annexed (judicial), binding or non-binding, formal or informal, mandatory or voluntary in nature[2]. It is to be emphasized that the term ‘ADR’ is misleading in a sense that it is not always alternative to formal litigation and very often it is a part of litigation particularly for those ADR processes which are court connected. Professors Thomas J. Stipanowich states that the name ADR is an outmoded acronym that survives as a matter of convenience only[3]. A California Task Force observed, “not only is ‘alternative’ unhelpful- alternative to what?- but “appropriate” better conveys the concept of “method best suited to resolving the dispute”.....Professor Jean R. Sternlight has preferred the phrase ADR as “Appropriate Dispute Resolution” rather than “Alternative Dispute Resolution[4].


[1] Iyer, V.R.Krishna, Access to Justice,  B.R.Publishing Corporation, Delhi (1993), p. 12

[2] Halim, Md. Abdul, ADR in Bangladesh: Issues and Challenges, 2nd Edition (January, 2011), CCB Foundation, p. 31.
[3] Thomas J. Stipanowich, ADR and the “Vanishing Trial”: The Growth and Impact of  “Alternative Dispute Resolution”, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Volume I, Issue 3, 843-912, November 2004 at page 845.
[4] Jean R. Sternlight, Is Binding Arbitration a Form of ADR?: An Argument that the Term “ADR” has begun to outlive its usefulness, 2000, J. Disp. Resol. 97.

1 comment:

  1. There are different ways to resolve disputes. Some are resolved formally, others informally, and some are resolved as time passes by. school technology

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