§ 152.001.Definition

The definition describes what a county system is for, and the examples are the useful part.

It is an informal forum, which distinguishes it from a courtroom and from the special judge trial in Chapter 151.

Three methods are named: mediation, conciliation and arbitration.

The disputes may be among individuals, entities and units of government, so the system is not limited to private quarrels.

The definition singles out people with an ongoing relationship — relatives, neighbors, landlords and tenants, employees and employers, merchants and consumers.

That list explains the design. These are disputes where the parties will still be dealing with each other next month, and a judgment settles the question without repairing anything.

Neighbor and landlord-tenant disputes are the everyday work of these centers, and they are the cases where the cost of a lawsuit dwarfs what is in dispute.

Chapter 154 covers court-ordered procedures; this chapter is about the standing county forum a case can be sent to.

Units of government are inside the definition, so a dispute between a resident and a city department can be handled in the same forum.

The three methods differ in what they produce. Mediation produces an agreement, conciliation produces an understanding, and arbitration produces a decision — and a county system may offer any of them.