Justice

Civil cases, no increase in efficiency with the trial office

Despite NRP investments, there has been an increase in pending cases over the past year

by Marco Fabri*

28 February 2026

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Main data
The office for the process

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The report on the administration of justice for 2025 presented by Minister Carlo Nordio contains information that stimulates various reflections on the state of our judicial system. The data on civil proceedings are also interesting because they do not only concern contentious proceedings, which are used for the evaluations of the NPRP, but present a global picture.

Main data

In the civil area, from October 2024 to September 2025, there was a slight decrease in the number of registrations, while the number of settlements remained unchanged. While there has been a decrease in pending cases in the Supreme Court and courts of appeal, there has been a significant increase in pending cases in both justice of the peace offices and courts over the past year. The latter was probably due to the increase in the registration of international protection proceedings (+18%), which was followed by an increase in the number of settlements of 'only' 2.9 per cent.

The offices of the justice of the peace in less than three years have increased their pending cases by 23.7 per cent: an emergency, mainly due to the increase in jurisdiction and the chronic lack of personnel.

Overall, the evolution of pending civil proceedings, monitored from 2003 to the third quarter of 2025, shows an increase in pending cases until 2009, then a more or less gradual decline in the following years until 2024, when there is an upward trend, mainly due to the Justice of the Peace offices and the stagnation of the courts.

The disposition time, i.e. the prognostic duration, has been steadily decreasing since 2022 in both cassation and appeal, but steadily increasing in the courts and justice of the peace offices.

On a positive note, the ultra-biennial backlog in appeals, which is falling from almost 200,000 cases in 2013 to about 50,000 in 2025, and the ultra-biennial backlog in the courts, which is falling from the monstrous figure of about 650,000 cases in 2013, to about 200,000. Still too many, though.

The Process Office

The report states that 'the office for the trial (...) has played a key role in reducing the backlog and duration of proceedings'.

The data actually say that the expensive trial office does not seem to have had any impact on the productivity of judges. On the contrary, it is realistic to think that the final rush until June 2026 to try to meet the targets set by the Pnrr will be followed by a physiological relaxation. The already disappointing results achieved so far will worsen further in the absence of serious structural and organisational interventions such as, for example, a rational and balanced distribution of staff over the territory, homogeneous and efficient procedures, a less bureaucratic office management and much more oriented towards responding to the demand for justice in reasonable time.

*The author is a CNR research manager