The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 54
(art. 54) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter referred to as "the Convention"),
Having regard to the judgments of the European Court of Human
Rights in the case of Zanghì delivered on 19 February 1991 and on
10 February 1993 and transmitted the same days to the Committee of
Ministers;
Recalling that the case originated in an application
(No. 11491/85) against Italy lodged with the European Commission of
Human Rights on 16 April 1985 under Article 25 (art. 25) of the
Convention by Mr Claudio Zanghì, an Italian national, and that the
Commission declared admissible the complaints of the excessive
length of certain civil proceedings and of a breach of his right to
a peaceful enjoyment of his possessions;
Recalling that the case was brought before the Court by the
Commission on 16 February 1990;
Whereas in its judgment of 19 February 1991 the Court
unanimously:
- held that there had been a violation of Article 6,
paragraph 1 (art. 6-1), of the Convention;
- held that it was unnecessary to rule on the complaint based
on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (P1-1);
- dismissed, as matters stood, the claim for just
satisfaction;
Whereas following its decision to re-enter this case in its
list the Court, in its judgment of 10 February 1993, rejected by
eight votes to one the applicant's claims for just satisfaction;
Having regard to the Rules adopted by the Committee of
Ministers concerning the application of Article 54 (art. 54) of the
Convention;
Having invited the Government of Italy to inform it of the
measures which had been taken in consequence of the judgments of
19 February 1991 and 10 February 1993, having regard to Italy's
obligation under Article 53 (art. 53) of the Convention to abide by
it;
Whereas, during the examination of the case by the Committee
of Ministers, the Government of Italy gave the Committee
information about the measures taken in consequence of the
judgments, which information appears in the appendix to this
resolution;
Declares, after having taken note of the information supplied
by the Government of Italy, that it has exercised its functions
under Article 54 (art. 54) of the Convention in this case.
Appendix to Resolution DH (95) 82
Information provided by the Government of Italy
during the examination of the case of Zanghì
by the Committee of Ministers
In order to remedy the important problem relating to the
excessive length of civil proceedings in Italy, three sets of laws
have been adopted in order to rationalise the organisation of the
court system and accelerate the handling of the cases.
Firstly, Act No. 30 of 1 February 1989 (which entered into
force the same year), concerning the courts of first instance
(preture), redefines the territorial jurisdiction of these courts
which is henceforth not limited to the department. This enactment
has made it possible to abolish some 273 courts of first instance
which had low workloads and to redistribute the magistrates and the
auxiliary personnel among the courts with heavy workloads. The
effects of this redefinition of the courts' jurisdictions will be
regularly examined in order to ensure that the judicial
organisation keeps pace with the needs established.
Secondly, Act No. 353 of 26 November 1990 containing "urgent
measures affecting civil procedure", rationalises and modifies the
different phases of the civil procedure. Thus, certain
institutions which could be abused have been modified (in
particular the old system of automatic suspension of proceedings in
certain cases such as the death or bankruptcy of one of the
parties). Furthermore, new measures have been introduced in order
to allow a speedier handling of cases: the investigating judge has
henceforth the possibility to issue injunctions and order the
payment of un-contested sums; the presentation of the evidence is
in addition henceforth subjected to a system of mandatory deadlines
in order to compel the parties to present their evidence rapidly
and exhaustively. Moreover, the collegiality principle having been
considered as a delaying factor, the competence of the single judge
at first instance has been considerably widened.
Finally, Act No. 374 of 21 November 1991 institutes the
justice of the peace or the judge of first instance. The justice
of the peace is a new court body, an honorary magistrate, whose
function is to alleviate the workload of the judge-magistrate of a
certain number of disputes of minor importance, both civil and
criminal. His competence extends, inter alia, to conflicts between
neighbours, road accidents and petty offences. The impact of this
new body, the justice of the peace, on the judicial system will be
considerable in view of number of justices foreseen, some 4 700.
The major part of the members of this new institution have already
been recruited and formed.
The last two acts entered into force on 30 April and
1 May 1995, respectively.
The government considers that these measures will accelerate
the pace of civil proceedings in such a way as to avoid for the
future the repetition of the kind of violations found by the Court
and the Committee of Ministers in a great number of cases, among
which the present one.
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy