This chapter provides an analytical and normative framework for evaluating the civil litigation system as well as for understanding existing critiques of the system. It argues that civil justice requires, first, that courts are accessible to parties with valid legal claims and defenses and, second, that courts are capable of distinguishing between strong and weak claims and defenses, which the chapter defines as reliability. This chapter also explains the central importance of litigation costs, and notes that on the one hand litigation costs can impede access to the courts, while on the other hand some costs are crucial to the operation of the civil litigation system—in that distinguishing between strong and weak claims requires certain expenditures.