Prevention of the abuse of the right to court: Roman sacramentum and contemporary SLAPPs

Abstract

This article e xamines the issue of preventing the abuse of the right to a court. The author highlights that the phenomenon of abusing this right and the measures to prevent it have accompanied the development of law and legal regulations since ancient times. The article explores the abuse of the right to a court in relation to the Roman sacramentum and discusses the essence of contemporary SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) along with methods of counteracting them. Sacramentum was a procedural law institution with deep roots in the religious tradition of ancient Rome and significant symbolic meaning, whereas SLAPPs represent a modern, undesirable phenomenon linked to procedural and financial aspects of the legal system. The article also examines the relationships, similarities, and differences between the ancient Roman sacramentum and modern SLAPPs and attempts to answer the question whether an equivalent of the Roman sacramentum could effectively curb contemporary SLAPPs.