Challenges and Functions of Establishing a Personality File in Civil Matters

Abstract

Today, the establishment and application of a personality file is one of the essential prerequisites for achieving and ensuring fair and equitable proceedings in the development of a functional judicial policy with a justice-oriented and human-centered approach to litigation processes. In fact, the modern judicial system, having moved beyond classical doctrines and influenced by Enlightenment intellectual currents, seeks to revive a modern, practical adjudicative system that places individuals involved in certain types of cases at the center of theoretical and empirical studies, employing scientific methods to assess their personality. The findings of this study indicate that, despite the opposing views which consider the establishment and use of a personality file as a form of legal paternalism and a violation of individual liberty and privacy, the uniformity and consistency in the underlying principles and objectives of using such files in adjudicative processes make it feasible to extend their application to civil cases. In this context, one of the effects of creating and utilizing personality files is the realization of fair and equitable proceedings and the observance of judicial justice in decision-making, along with its impact on social welfare—an outcome for which there is no clear distinction between criminal and civil cases upon closer examination. Nevertheless, in response to the question of how the feasibility of establishing and employing personality files in civil litigation is evaluated, the results suggest that extending the authorization to create and utilize personality files in civil disputes is both acceptable and feasible. This extension would contribute to the prevention of judicial errors and facilitate the most appropriate rulings in each case.