Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

3-30-2007

SSRN Discipline

Legal Scholarship Network; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; Litigation, Procedure & Dispute Resolution eJournals; Law & Society eJournals; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; Law School Research Papers - Public Law & Legal Theory

Abstract

Class actions have become quite controversial and this controversy has brought calls for reexamination and reform As one might expect legislative reforms — both proposed and enacted — have sought quick fixes for perceived problems and shortcomings in class action practice More surprisingly the calls for reexamination in the academic legal literature have proffered proposals that not only contradict the historical understanding of class actions but indeed erode and undermine the very foundation of the theoretical justification for class actions — and thus seek not merely innovation or reform but actually seek to construct a new class action reality Moreover these recent proposals seek to construct this new class action reality in a remarkably uniform manner — and one that raises significant constitutional issues Specifically this reconstruction of class action reality pits two inherent components of class actions against each other one that focuses on the representative nature of the class action device and one that focuses on the aggregate or efficiency component of class actions

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