There are a lot of things that we can do these days that do not necessarily involve us being there in person physically. This is thanks to technology that has given us tools like video conferencing where people around the world can hold meetings at the same time without having to be in the same country.
Now it seems that over in China, the country just tried its first cyber-court case, where the defendants and plaintiffs appeared before a judge via video chat. This is actually not the first time China has used video technology for its court cases. The BBC points out that last year the Chinese courts started to live stream its cases in a bid to provide more transparency into its legal system, so in reality the cyber-court seems to be the next step forward.
However it seems that for now the cyber-court won’t be dealing with very major cases, but will instead focus on internet-related claims and civil cases. The first trial conducted by the cyber-court actually involves a copyright infringement dispute between an online writer and a web company, where it was ultimately settled in about 20 minutes, with neither side having to be present.
China is not the first country to offer its people the ability to resolve legal disputes online. The Civil Resolution Tribunal of Canada started to allow claims for $5,000 or less earlier this June.