MEDIATION IN MUNICIPALITIES IN SLOVAKIA AND SELECTED EU COUNTRIES

Practically everywhere around the world we encounter some form of conflict. The different views, needs, values (whether individuals or the whole society) are causing contradicts in different areas of our lives. Clearly, the conflict is a vital component of the society's life, and each of us was most likely a part of a larger or lesser conflict during his/her life. Conflict is a natural part of our lives which will push us further. Sociology is the study of social relationships, social interaction and culture of everyday life and one of the basic principles says that a constant conflict is vital for society where in the end new balance in the life is found. Mediation is an effective tool for dealing with these conflicts which is mostly used in resolving litigation, but there are other areas of use for mediation, which will be further explained in this document. Although mediation has been placed in our legal relatively recently, it has a rich history and firm place in the life of society. The new history of mediation goes back to the eighteenth century, when this was used as a tool to prevent expensive and time-consuming litigations. The institutionalized form of mediation was introduced for the first time at the beginning of the last century in the United States. Although directive 2008/52/EC of the European Parliament and Council from 21 May 2008 on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters should ensure a certain unity of national arrangements it is clear, that individual countries have different approach to legislative matters. I believe that it will be interesting to compare our legislation with the other countries but given the scope of the article I will focus only on the few selected states