Jury for small claims

For the first time in Argentina, the city of Mar del Plata opens up opportunities for citizen participation in Municipal Courts.

Mar del Plata is an iconic city in Argentina and the Province of Buenos Aires: besides being the most important tourist destination in the summer, and the main fishing port in the country, is now the first city to propose a system for the resolution of conflicts with juries. Last week, Mayor Gustavo
Pulti received at the hands of a joint committee (which involved municipal officials and experts belonging to INECIP and AAJJ) the draft Municipal Code of Justice, which in the coming days will begin to be discussed in the city council.

The initiative designs a network of community access centers justice, where there will be reconciliation services of any kind of neighborhood disputes, plus a courtroom where municipal judges (now limited to hearing cases on fines and closures for violations of the rules of town) will preside over a 5-person jury (or a 12 person

jury if the case is a serious one) to settle for equity and preponderance of the evidence several small causes, and even some infringements of coexistence. In the coming days, when the mayor officially presents the draft code to the city council, we will publish here the full text of the proposal.

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