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CASE OF ZANGHÌ AGAINST ITALY

Doc ref: 11491/85 • ECHR ID: 001-55675

Document date: June 7, 1995

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Cited paragraphs: 0
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CASE OF ZANGHÌ AGAINST ITALY

Doc ref: 11491/85 • ECHR ID: 001-55675

Document date: June 7, 1995

Cited paragraphs only

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.

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