Mediation has a long history. It is practiced in many different ways, on every continent, and many different institutions are involved in it. Hence it is a highly familiar phenomenon that spontaneously means something to everyone. But despite this familiarity, much curiosity is still being shown about mediation in some quarters, because unknown or poorly understood aspects of its identity continue to emerge. There is a tremendous amount to be said about mediation, with its rich past, its dynamic present, and its enviable future. In short, it is a phenomenon that sows, propagates, and engenders in every direction, in all seasons. This wide-ranging impact of mediation is the focus of this collection of papers by the national rapporteurs who participated in the session on cross-border and judicial mediation at the XIXth International Congress of Comparative Law, held in Vienna from July 20 to 27, 2014. Together these papers present new seeds of mediation, new sources from which it can be propagated, and new elements engendered by its active presence. These extensive effects of mediation make it priceless. They enable its participants to exchange information and share knowledge about it, to refine the process that characterizes it, and to build networks that will ensure its lasting development. The universal nature of these effects of mediation demonstrate that the fundamental and applied knowledge that it embodies knows no borders.