The effects of the reform of the judicial map on the functioning of civil justice

Sauro Mocetti, Ottavia Pesenti and Giacomo Roma

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: The paper evaluates the impact of the reform of the judicial map on the functioning of Italian civil justice. Implemented between 2013 and 2014, the reform abolished all branch offices and merged several small first-instance courts, substantially increasing the size of judicial districts and the scale at which civil justice services are provided. According to our findings, the reform led to a reduction in the demand for justice, plausibly due to higher access costs associated with increased distances to the courts. This decline was particularly pronounced in case types characterized by greater claimant discretion and lower expected stakes. On the supply side, the reform increased the number of cases resolved and reduced their average duration. These improvements were more pronounced in initially less efficient courts and in more complex case types, which benefited the most from the increased scale and specialization.

Keywords: civil justice; judicial geography; access to justice; courts' productivity; length of trials (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2026-08-31
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Published in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 31, August, 2026, 248. ISSN: 0167-2681

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https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/139007/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The effects of the reform of the judicial map on the functioning of civil justice (2025)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:139007

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