Courts performance

: the case of Portugal

Abstract

For some time now, courts and countries’ judicial system have been intrinsically connected to the development of the nations. The present analysis uses data from 2015 to 2021 on every bench in the Portuguese first instance courts, consisting of 3,365 observations and 10 different variables. To analyse the efficiency of benches, Data Envelopment Analysis was used. The results proved to be very balanced throughout the country and over the years. Given the clear difference between specialized and non-specialized types of benches, we assessed benches within group and between groups and computed the group frontier gap, that can be used as an indication of economies of scope of specialised vs generic benches. The results uncovered diseconomies of scope for nearly every level of staff and total case number. This study provides therefore, information and tools that allow Portuguese decision makers to consider a redesign of generic benches, mainly in what concerns staff flexibility.

Date of Award	22 Feb 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria Silva (Supervisor)