민사전자소송의 성과와 전망 — 규범적 측면을 중심으로 —

Ten years have passed since the commencement of the electronic lawsuit on the merits of civil affairs on May 2, 2011. Over the past decade, electronic litigation has dramatically changed the pattern of Korean civil litigation. Electronic litigation has strengthened the people's access to judicial services, changed trial procedures quickly and efficiently, and enhanced transparency by promoting e-filing of records, e-case management, and e-courtroom. When the next-generation electronic litigation system is established in 2024, it is predicted that a very innovative and user-friendly system will emerge. Unfortunately, however, it is difficult to find that aspect in terms of the rules of electronic litigation. In order to achieve the goal in a short period of time, the special law urgently created with only 16 articles remains the same, and accordingly, the Civil Procedure Act designed for traditional paper litigation is losing its normative power over the reality of litigation. The time has come to revise the Civil Procedure Act in a direction consistent with electronic litigation, just as new alcohol should be put in a new unit. Before it is too late, the Civil Procedure Act should be revised to default on electronic litigation and the norms should be redesigned to suit the new ICT environment. It is necessary to lay the foundation for actively utilizing virtual trials, which suddenly became a reality due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, and to expedite trials and promote the economy by resolving small cases online in line with the non-face-to-face contact era. In addition, it is time to calmly refine the principles of the use of artificial intelligence based on social consensus to prepare for the storm of artificial intelligence in the future.