Originally from Collective Litigation in Europe: Law and Practice – Preview Page

The United States has been a pioneer in developing class action procedures to provide collective redress for harms done to groups. Class actions in the U.S. have done enormous good but have also been the subject of well-publicized abuses. An examination of the U.S. experience may therefore assist countries in Europe and other parts of the world as they develop and implement their own group action procedures. 

1. HISTORY AND PURPOSE OF CLASS ACTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

The development of class action procedures in the United States has been led by the federal court system.1 In 1938, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Charles Evans Hughes signed into law a comprehensive modern procedural code—the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure—for all U.S. federal courts. Although the original 1938 version of Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provided for class actions for damages, the rules did not make clear what types of actions would be suitable for class treatment, nor did it set out detailed procedures to be used for prosecuting a class action. Consequently, those procedures were rarely used.