Overview

A low ranking in the ease of contract enforcement in Doing Business in 2006—Creating Jobs prompted Tonga’s government to seek remedial action. In this Smart Lesson, Anthony D. Ford, Chief Justice of the Kingdom of Tonga, describes the range of activist measures—in particular, the introduction of electronic case management and mediation—that were instrumental in drastically improving the legal process.

Main Findings

• In just one year Tonga’s Supreme Court had cut the average time to enforce contracts from 510 days to 350.