M. Dakolias
Published: 1999
Total Pages: 58
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Increasing importance has been placed on an effective and efficient judiciary by governments and civil society. However, apart from decisions that they render, little is known about court performance trends. The judicial reform experiences so far have made it clear that more information is needed to review and compare trends among different countries. This paper addresses the efficiency aspect of court performance, as it can be quantitatively measured using objective data. In addition, congestion, cost, and delay are some of the problems most often complained about by the public. This paper reviews data collected from eleven countries on three continents and provides a description of performance. The main areas of comparison include the number of cases filed, resolved, and pending per judge, the clearance and congestion rates, time to resolve a case, the number of judges, and the cost of a case. The paper also reviews the recent trends within each country and discusses some possible reforms.