From Court Automation to e-Justice and Beyond in Europe

This article addresses several impossible missions. The first is to track milestones and trends in the development and implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) in European judiciaries over the past twenty-five years. The second is to summarize some lessons learned in the past quarter century and outline possible future trends, with particular reference to artificial intelligence, in the European judiciaries. The development of AI is unstoppable, however courts and policy makers should not be too infatuated by AI. They should always be mindful of the ongoning functional needs of courts and courts’ users are and to what extent AI can be harnessed to support those. There are areas of intervention in the administration of justice that can still benefit from investments in “traditional” ICT applications.