Revista da EMERJ - V. 21 - N. 2 - Maio/Agosto - 2019

 R. EMERJ, Rio de Janeiro, v. 21, n. 2, p. 11-39, Maio-Agosto, 2019  16 5. Certain Practical Consequences in the Italian Experience By examining the Italian experience one can explore the practical consequences of this approach. Currently, a principle of efficiency con- cerning civil procedure is not explicitly provided for in the Italian legal sys- tem. It is derived, however, by way of creative interpretation from the prin- ciple of reasonable duration of civil proceedings, which was introduced in 1999 in Art. 111, para 2 Const. to ensure Italian law complies with Art. 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights. 11 Alaw is required forthis constitutional provision to be implemented. 12 However, some very ques- tionable decisions by the Supreme Court (Corte di cassazione) in the last decade have disregarded statutory provisions of the Code of Civil Proce- dure that are clearly applicable in relevant cases, but allegedly at odds with the constitutional principle of reasonable duration. 13 Abalanced constitu- tional provision on the efficiency of civil procedure would possibly have dissuaded the Supreme Court from is suing such counter intuitive rulings. In an article published some years ago in an Italian law journal, 14 I pinpointed a number of ways the legislator could take into account the principle of efficiency of civil procedure in certain areas, ranging from ADR to partial claims, the structure of proceedings, class actions, access to the Supreme Court, res judicata, and so on. 6. Filtering the Access to the Corte di cassazione Among the topics listed at the end of last paragraph, the heavy workload of the Corte di cassazione has been a serious problem for a num- ber of decades. The Italian Supreme Court decides cases in civil and crimi- nal matters, andischarged with the task of reviewing appellate judgments 11 Cf. Constitutional Law no. 2 of 1999. For this interpretation, s. A. Proto Pisani , Il nuovo art. 111 Cost. e il giusto processo civile, Foro italiano, 2000, V, c. 241 ff.; R. Caponi , Il principio di proporzionalità nella giustizia civile: prime note sistematiche, p. 398. 12 Art. 111, para 2 Const.: “The law provides for the reasonable duration” of proceedings. 13 Cf., among others, Cass. 9 October 2008, no. 24883; Cass. 23 February 2010, no. 4309; Cass. 30 July 2008, no. 20604. 14 R. Caponi , Il principio di proporzionalità nella giustizia civile: prime note sistematiche.