TOLFA Segment 6, Question 5

If there are several courts competing for business, how could victim B ensure the appearance of suspect- aggressor A in the court of his choice?

If a contract exists between A and B, which B thinks A has broken, it will specify which court system the two will use in the event of dispute
Absent such contract, since B is paying for the hearing (until and unless the court awards him costs) B's choice would prevail. However B would need to recall that if A were displeased at the outcome, he'd be free to sue B for dragging him to a "kangaroo" court - so the two would have good incentive to agree beforehand on the choice
If A refused to appear in any court, B would be free to publicize the fact - which would likely cripple all A's future attempts to make a living
It's possible that agreements would be made between competing courts, that cases are always heard in the court chosen by the plaintiff
He couldn't. This alone shows that the whole idea of competing courts is nonsense; such a system could never work.

Don't hurry away; even when you've got the right answer, try clicking on the others to see why they are wrong! Then when you have correctly answered this make notes in your student notebook, then go to Question 6.

Segment 6 Page