Group Action Research

Since the rule of representative action was established by the court of chancery in England, the group action has been 200 years, during which time each country in the world has successively established its own group action system in accordance with its state condition. However, thanks to the complexity of group action, the dispute and controversy about group action has never stopped. The former studies on group action focus on the horizontal comparison of each country's different group action system, that is favorable of deepening the understanding of the differences among the group action systems all over the world, and offering the reference opinions on the reform and perfection of the group action system in detail, but unfavorable of deepening the understanding of the generality of group action which has the guiding significance on the reform and perfection of the group action system.This article concentrates on a vertical comparison among the group action systems all over the world. In this article, we have discussed the relationship and difference between group action and co-litigation, putting forward that group action and co-litigation are the two tools in resolving the group disputes, which have the different value outlook. Group action pays a little more attention to efficiency and co-litigation pays a little more attention to justice. We have summarized the common features of the three group action systems those are "selection of the party" in Japan, class action in the United States, and group action in Germany, which have produced a better function in resolving the group disputes. And we also analyze the common reason why all other group action systems fail to exert a function. Finally we discuss strong and weak points of the three group action systems which have exerted a better function in resolving the group disputes in some detailed fields, as a result we integrated the three systems into the restructuring of our country's group action system in accordance with developing their merits, avoiding their weakness in each field.