Civil Process and Mediation in Italy, 2024 — Ius Dicere et Litem Componere, Italiae Usus

Abstract

The rule of law is extremely important and the role and activities of the courts are absolutely relevant. But enforcing the law proves one right, another wrong, and does not solve the conflict. And in a society where, due to lifestyles and work, family and social ties have become weaker and social relationships are increasingly conditioned by technological aspects, the judicial process, which is supposed to solve problems, has become a problem itself (too complicated and too long). In Italy, at the end of 2009, there were 5,826,440 pending cases in civil courts, the highest number ever reached. In 2010 the compulsory civil and commercial mediation was implemented in the contemporary legal system; contemporary, because mediation belongs to the Italian legal tradition. Fierce opposition by lawyers, benign neglect by judges. Over a period of about ten years mediation has grown, but not enough. And, above all, usually the parties are not present in the mediation meetings, but they are represented by their lawyers. This greatly undermines the effectiveness of the procedure. In 2021/2023 the Riforma Cartabia has introduced relevant new rules in the civil proceedings and in ADR. Will they be sufficient to reduce the backlog and, more relevant, the length of trials? How will the new civil trial rules and mediation procedures interact with each other? Risk: the lawyerization of mediation. How to avoid it? Through highly qualified training.