Editing Class action (section)

===England and the United Kingdom===
The antecedent of the class action was what modern observers call "group litigation," which appears to have been quite common in [[medieval England]] from about 1200 onward.<ref name=Yeazell>{{cite book|last1=Yeazell|first1=Stephen C.|authorlink1=Stephen C. Yeazell|title=From Medieval Group Litigation to the Modern Class Action|date=1987|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|doi=10.2307/j.ctt2250x10 |isbn=9780300037760|oclc=15549646|jstor=j.ctt2250x10}}</ref>{{rp|38}} These lawsuits involved groups of people either suing or being sued in actions at [[common law]]. These groups were usually based on existing societal structures like villages, towns, parishes, and guilds. Unlike modern courts, the medieval [[English court]]s did not question the right of the actual plaintiffs to sue on behalf of a group or a few representatives to defend an entire group.<ref name=Yeazell/>{{rp|38–40}}

[[File:Old and new London - a narrative of its history, its people, and its places (1873) (14598096217).jpg|thumb|300px|Engraving of the Star Chamber, published in "Old and new London" in 1873, taken from a drawing made in 1836]]
From 1400 to 1700, group litigation gradually switched from being the norm in England to the exception.<ref name=Yeazell/>{{rp|100}} The development of the concept of the [[corporation]] led to the wealthy supporters of the corporate form becoming suspicious of all unincorporated legal entities, which in turn led to the modern concept of the [[Unincorporated associations in English law|unincorporated]] or [[voluntary association]].<ref name=Yeazell/>{{rp|124–25}} The tumultuous history of the [[Wars of the Roses]] and then the [[Star Chamber]] resulted in periods during which the common law courts were frequently paralyzed, and out of the confusion the [[Court of Chancery]] emerged with exclusive jurisdiction over group litigation.<ref name=Yeazell/>{{rp|125–32}}

By 1850, Parliament had enacted several statutes on a case-by-case basis to deal with issues regularly faced by certain types of organizations, like joint-stock companies, and with the impetus for most types of group litigation removed, it went into a steep decline in English jurisprudence from which it never recovered.<ref name=Yeazell/>{{rp|210–12}} It was further weakened by the fact that [[Equity (law)|equity]] pleading, in general, was falling into disfavor, which culminated in the [[Judicature Acts]] of 1874 and 1875.<ref name=Yeazell/>{{rp|210–12}} Group litigation was essentially dead in the United Kingdom after 1850.