Crowdsourced Online Dispute Resolution

Abstract

Solving disputes often takes a considerable amount of time and money. That holds for everyone involved. A new type of dispute resolution called Crowdsourced Online Dispute Resolution (CODR) seems to have the potential to offer a cheap, fast, and democratic dispute resolution procedure. Since it is currently not clear whether CODR procedures comply with the requirements of procedural fairness, the attractiveness and the acceptance of CODR procedures may be in discussion.

This PhD dissertation aims to establish whether CODR can fairly resolve disputes. First, it provides a framework of CODR, analyses the differences between CODR and other dispute resolution schemes, and constructs interpretation of procedural fairness that merges objective and subjective procedural fairness. Second, the research investigates whether the current CODR procedures are fair and proposes a model of a CODR procedure that complies with the interpretation of procedural fairness.

The findings of the research indicate that CODR can be designed to fairly resolve disputes.

Keywords: internet law, crowdsourcing, disputes, online dispute resolution, disput resolution, alternative dispute resolution, e-courts, virtual courts, e-justice