In recent decades, the world has been rocked by the huge storms of dramatic social and economic change. Amongst these seismic shifts, of particular note has been the continuous expansion of globalization over the course of the last century and the advancement in computer-related technologies, which is progressing at a parabolic rate. The direct impact of such storms is inevitable even in the realm of civil justice. The judiciaries of the world today are equally faced with the challenges presented by globalization, technology, and other factors that transcend the differences between those legal systems. In the face of these, we have been sought for wisdom and ingenuity to cope with a variety of problems.

In response to such problems, the 16th World Congress of the International Association of Procedural Law, held from November 2nd to 5th, 2019 in Kobe, Japan, took “Challenges for Civil Justice as We Move Beyond Globalization and Technological Change” as its overall topic. This volume presents the papers presented at the Congress. The structure of this book is divided into two parts. Part 1 contains three keynote speeches and Part 2 contains a total of 13 General Reports, respectively, grouped as per the 6 session topics to which they correspond. In order to prepare these contributions for publication, each paper has been updated and rearranged from the original.

I would like to thank all the community members of the International Association of Procedural Law. I would also like to thank the members of the Organizing Committee of the IAPL 16th World Congress. I am particularly thankful to Professor Shusuke Kakiuchi for his devoted assistance in assisting me in editing this book.