History of the Federal Judiciary

  Civil Cases to Which the U.S. Was a Party
   U.S. Circuit, District, and Territorial Courts (1870–1911)
   U.S. District Courts (1912–2012)¹

Year (ending)	Commenced	Terminated²	Pending
1870 ³	–	3,347	8,150
1871 ⁴	–	4,565^a	7,239
1872 ⁵	–	3,693^a	6,715
1873 ⁶	–	3,241^a ^b	7,599
1874 ⁷	–	3,058^a	6,854
1875 ⁸	–	3,002^a	7,211
1876	–	3,203^a	6,926
1877 ⁹	–	2,716^a	6,764
1878 ¹⁰	–	2,589^a	4,466
1879 ¹¹	–	2,515^a	4,236
1880 ¹²	–	2,423	4,110
1881¹³	–	2,482	2,929
1882	–	1,973	2,494
1883	–	1,597	4,432
1884	–	1,548	6,152
1885 ¹⁴	–	1,658	2,146
1886	–	1,379	2,826
1887	–	1,777	3,054
1888	–	2,170	3,051
1889	–	2,287	2,950
1890	–	1,768	2,927
1891	–	1,673	3,459
1892	–	2,009	2,264
1893	–	1,628	2,119^b
1894	–	1,562	2,234
1895	–	2,751	2,608
1896	–	2,726	8,204
1897	–	2,524	7,616
1898	–	2,369	6,851^b
1899	–	1,739	2,807
1900	–	1,602	6,130
1901	–	1,873	4,828
1902	–	2,672	4,180
1903	–	1,793	2,940^c
1904	1,803	2,171	2,778^c
1905	2,010	2,158	2,801^c
1906	1,687	1,953	2,684^c
1907	2,633	1,900	3,581^c
1908	3,202	2,483	4,338^c
1909	3,142	3,071	4,342^c
1910	3,170	3,464	4,056^c
1911	3,814^b	2,982	4,903^c
1912	4,001	3,242	5,681^c
1913	3,752	4,123	23,261^c¹⁵
1914	4,142	4,781	29,888^c
1915	3,578	7,026	26,362^c
1916	3,500	10,739	12,167^c
1917	3,534	6,507	9,098^c
1918	2,877	4,592	7,410^c
1919	4,975	6,280	6,110^c
1920	5,726	5,526	6,298^c
1921	9,722	6,301	10,288^c
1922	9,646	8,170	12,126^c
1923	10,999	10,037	13,082^c
1924	13,753	11,121	15,777^c
1925	16,319	13,968	18,187^c
1926	17,504	17,236	18,506^c
1927	17,888	19,953	16,433^c
1928	20,695	18,589	18,611^c
1929	24,307	21,733	21,185^c
1930	24,934	24,722	21,320
1931	25,332	25,010	21,642
1932	34,189	29,591	26,240
1933	25,797	27,744	24,293
1934	9,487	16,479	17,303
Jul 1 - Dec 31, 1934 ¹⁶	5,779	6,716	16,286^c
Jan 1 - Jun 30, 1935	5,900	6,081	15,383^c
1936	13,057	14,395	14,048^c
1937	10,202	11,625	12,625
1938	11,526	12,856	11,295
1939	12,212	13,905	9,602
1940	13,644	14,003	9,238
1941	16,546	15,197	10,587
1942	17,073	15,864	11,796
1943	19,072	15,920	14,948
1944	20,895	19,640	16,203
1945	43,110	35,547	23,766
1946	45,694	42,562	26,898
1947	29,834	31,424	25,308
1948	16,381	22,373	19,316
1949	22,035	20,237	21,114
1950	22,429	22,765	20,778
1951	19,424	20,700	19,502
1952	22,880	20,540	21,842
1953	23,881	22,106	23,617
1954	19,949	20,894	22,672
1955	20,150	21,611	21,211
1956	21,393	24,944	17,660
1957	19,914	21,109	16,465
1958	21,458	20,717	17,206
1959	20,355	21,361	16,200
1960	20,840	20,994	16,046
1961	19,843	19,368	16,521
1962	20,298	19,793	17,026
1963	21,385	21,553	16,858
1964	22,268	21,810	17,316
1965	21,651	21,109	17,858
1966	23,181	21,884	19,155
1967	21,593	22,699	18,049
1968	19,666	19,726	17,989
1969	22,295	21,017	19,267
1970	24,965	23,767	20,465
1971	25,086	24,859	20,692
1972	26,729	26,116	21,305
1973	27,484	27,347	21,442
1974	27,585	26,702	22,325
1975	31,779	27,949	26,155
1976	39,864	31,731	34,288
1977	40,210	34,450	40,048
1978	46,811	39,399	47,460
1979	55,840	47,184	56,116
1980	63,628	61,065	58,680^c
1981	61,845	66,083	54,443^c
1982	75,773	72,249	57,966^c
1983	95,803	83,811	69,950^c
1984	111,867	100,291	81,525^c
1985	117,488	121,425	77,588
1986	91,830	111,554	57,860^c
1987	72,022	75,661	54,263^c
1988	69,076	68,495	54,745^c
1989	61,906	66,633	48,788^c
1990	56,300	56,637	46,948^c
1991	52,654	51,562	48,040
1991 ¹⁷	–	–	48,921
1992 ¹⁸	62,600	61,970	47,580^c
1993	51,724	54,430	43,584^c
1994	45,410	47,296	41,346^c
1995	43,158	46,495	36,869^c
1996	48,755	46,772	38,495^c
1997	60,004	50,591	47,593^c
1998	57,852	59,446	45,078^c
1999	65,443	61,309	48,934^c
2000	71,109	67,219	53,036^c
2001	63,324	64,181	51,662^c
2002	53,997	56,678	48,386^c
2003	49,200	51,788	45,472^c
2004	48,462	50,771	43,432^c
2005	52,386	52,125	43,596^c
2006	44,294	47,607	39,035^c
2007	45,464	45,660	38,695^c
2008	44,164	45,190	36,851^c
2009	43,144	42,242	37,708^c
2010	43,037	41,030	40,349^c
2011	46,869	43,303	43,236^c
2012	47,692	45,558	45,370

a: total of cases reported for customs suits, internal revenue suits, Post-Office suits, proceedings by quo warranto under enforcement act (1871 only), and miscellaneous suits
b: discrepancy between exhibit and text of report
c: revised total presented in subsequent year’s report

Notes:
1. Statistical year from January 1–December 31. All years include the District of Columbia and district courts in U.S. territories and possessions.
2. Includes cases that reached judgment in the trial court and were appealed.
3. No data submitted from 22 districts: Delaware, Northern Florida, Southern Florida, Maine, Minnesota, Northern Mississippi, Western Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Eastern Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Eastern Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Eastern Wisconsin, District of Columbia, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah.
4. No data submitted by Western Arkansas, Nevada, Oregon,
5. No data submitted by the following districts: Northern Florida, Southern Florida, Nevada, Western District of Virginia, Arizona Territory, Colorado Territory, and New Mexico Territory.
6. Statistical year changed to July 1–June 30. No data submitted by the following districts: Minnesota, Nevada, Western Texas, Idaho, New Mexico, Washington.
7. No data submitted by the following districts: Nevada, Arizona, District of Columbia
8. No data submitted by the districts of Nevada and Washington.
9. No data submitted by the territories of Dakota and Montana.
10. No data submitted by the Northern District of Mississippi.
11. No data submitted by the districts of Idaho and Wyoming.
12. No data submitted by the District of Idaho.
13. No data submitted by the territories of Montana and New Mexico.
14. No report submitted by Territory of New Mexico.
15. Dramatic jump from previous year because of 18,077 land cases in eastern Oklahoma not reported the previous year.
16. Department of Justice adopted new procedures for compiling statistics during the year and published its data based on the old system as separate tables for the first half of the statistical year.
17. In 1992, the statistical year was changed to coincide with the fiscal year, which ended on September 30. The 1992 report included statistics for cases pending the 12-month period ending September 30, 1991.
18. Statistical year changed to October 1–September 30.

Sources:
1870: Annual Report of the Attorney General, p. 4.
1871: Annual Report of the Attorney General (1872), Exhibit A.
1872: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Exhibit C.
1873–1902: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Exhibit A; 1873-1875 includes bankruptcy cases.
1903–1904: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Exhibit 11.
1905–1907: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Exhibit 6.
1908: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Exhibit 7.
1909: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Exhibit 9.
1910–1912: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Appendix 1.
1913: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Appendix 2.
1914–1934: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Exhibit 2.
1935–1939: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Exhibit 2, Table 2A.
1940–1941: Annual Report of the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Table 3.
1942–1944: Annual Report of the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Table 5.
1945–2012: Annual Report of the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Table C-1.