History of the Federal Judiciary

  Private Civil Cases
   U.S. Circuit, District, and Territorial Courts (1873–1911)
   U.S. District Courts (1912–2010)¹

Year (ending)	Commenced	Terminated	Pending
1873 ²	15,141^a	7,276	-
1874 ³	19,194	11,490	-
1875 ⁴	15,316	9,517^b	-
1876	11,366	7,680^b	14,397
1877 ⁵	10,258	7,382^b	20,570
1878 ⁶	11,501	9,862^b	22,005
1879 ⁷	12,801	8,490^ab	19,771
1880	11,397	8,603^b	26,789
1881 ⁸	9,727	7,603^b	24,371
1882 ⁹	10,530	7,439^b	23,271
1883	12,124	8,327	27,791
1884	11,700	8,738	30,372
1885 ¹⁰	11,967	8,952	29,308
1886	12,326	10,109	31,455
1887	10,769	9,339	29,479
1888	9,329	8,229	34,922
1889	9,173	8,080	38,872
1890	12,247	8,500	42,584
1891	12,459	9,534	39,206
1892	13,236	11,307	44,809
1893	12,438^a	10,398^a	45,135
1894	13,567	11,988	46,816
1895	11,958	9,982	46,797
1896	10,465	9,621	45,956
1897	10,255	9,712	46,453
1898	10,274	11,005	45,715^a
1899	10,035	9,169	46,153
1900	10,628	10,459	46,347
1901	11,400	11,391	39,693
1902	11,514	11,094	40,158
1903	11,952	10,526	41,317^c
1904	13,085	10,986	42,799^c
1905	13,992	12,085	46,332^c
1906	14,299	13,731	46,451^c
1907	15,801	11,809^b	43,878^c
1908	11,703	9,128	41,658^c
1909	9,985	8,811	43,387^c
1910	10,618	9,445	43,831^c
1911	10,191	9,543	54,911^c
1912	10,992	11,633	54,210^c
1913	11,183	13,781	51,322^c
1914	12,146	13,344	51,537^c
1915	11,690	11,786	59,546^c
1916	13,852	19,159	54,211^c
1917	14,017	16,419	51,099^c
1918	13,879	26,370	37,889^c
1919	13,825	22,057	29,706^c
1920	16,383	13,357	32,654^c
1921	22,453	16,886	35,991^c
1922	22,099	17,996	39,733^c
1923	19,717	18,879	40,193^c
1924	20,458	20,332	40,355^c
1925	21,716	23,536	38,638^c
1926	21,217	21,487	38,173^c
1927	22,968	22,554	38,242^c
1928	23,750	22,641	39,223^c
1929	20,980	22,657	37,503^c
1930	23,391	23,743	37,151
1931	24,000	24,375	36,776
1932	26,326	26,045	37,057
1933	26,656	26,074	37,614^c
1934	26,472	28,035	36,051
Jul 1 - Dec 31, 1934 ¹¹	12,376	12,172	27,782^c
Jan 1 - Jun 30, 1935	10,432	10,583	31,949^c
1936	26,334	20,989	31,455^c
1937	22,697	26,013	28,139
1938	22,065	25,484	24,790^c
1939	21,598	23,848	22,540
1940	21,090	23,364	20,240
1941	21,931	23,364	18,807
1942	21,067	22,488	17,386
1943	17,717	20,124	14,979
1944	17,604	17,446	15,137
1945	17,855	16,753	16,239
1946	22,141	18,438	19,942
1947	29,122	23,091	25,973
1948	30,344	26,418	29,899
1949	31,386	28,159	33,126
1950	32,193	30,494	34,825
1951	32,176	31,419	35,582
1952	35,548	32,610	38,520
1953	40,120	35,384	43,256
1954	39,512	37,009	45,759
1955	39,225	37,363	47,621
1956	41,001	42,756	45,866
1957	42,466	42,459	45,873
1958	45,657	40,568	50,962
1959	37,445	40,811	47,596
1960	38,444	40,835	45,205
1961	38,450	36,048	47,607
1962	41,538	38,203	50,942
1963	42,245	40,826	52,361
1964	44,662	42,144	54,879
1965	46,027	44,369	56,537
1966	47,725	44,300	59,962
1967	49,368	47,473	61,857
1968	51,783	49,147	64,493
1969	54,898	52,337	67,054
1970	62,356	56,668	72,742
1971	68,310	61,704	79,348
1972	69,444	69,065	79,727
1973	71,076	70,912	79,891
1974	75,945	70,931	84,905
1975	85,541	76,834	93,612
1976	90,733	78,444	105,901
1977	90,357	82,700	113,558
1978	91,959	86,515	119,002
1979	98,826	96,139	121,689
1980	105,161	99,416	127,433^c
1981	118,731	111,892	134,271^c
1982	130,420	117,224	147,468^c
1983	146,039	131,545	161,970^c
1984	149,618	142,822	168,767^c
1985	156,182	148,423	176,526
1986	162,998	155,211	184,317^c
1987	166,960	162,339	189,098^c
1988	170,558	170,258	189,378^c
1989	171,623	168,586	189,601^c
1990	161,579	157,285	197,622^c
1991	155,088	160,151	192,559
1991 ¹²	-	-	177,313
1992 ¹³	167,909	169,334	171,244^c
1993	178,126	171,735	174,457^c
1994	190,981	181,065	182,413^c
1995	205,177	183,325	197,139^c
1996	220,377	203,615	212,439^c
1997	212,023	199,050	225,009^c
1998	198,935	202,855	217,495^c
1999	194,828	211,217	200,447^c
2000	188,408	192,418	197,166^c
2001	187,583	183,993	198,960^c
2002	220,844	202,859	212,732^c
2003	203,762	201,227	212,004^c
2004	232,876	201,990	241,264^c
2005	200,887	219,628	221,888^c
2006	215,247	225,586	208,218^c
2007	212,043	194,018	226,748^c
2008	223,093	189,381	257,271^c
2009	233,253	221,461	273,645^c
2010	239,858	268,729	244,774

a: discrepancy between exhibit and text of report
b: totaled from cases reported as admiralty, bankruptcy (1875 only), and other suits
c: revised total presented in the subsequent year’s report

Notes:
1. Beginning in 1881, includes the District of Columbia and district courts in U.S. territories and possessions.
2. 1873–1875 includes bankruptcy cases.
3. No data submitted by the following districts: Eastern Arkansas, Northern Florida, Western Missouri, Western Texas, Arizona, District of Columbia.
4. No report submitted by the following districts: Eastern Missouri, Northern Ohio, Western Virginia, Eastern Wisconsin, District of Columbia, and Washington.
5. No report submitted by the Northern District of Ohio.
6. No data submitted by the Northern District of Mississippi.
7. No data submitted by the following districts: Southern Florida, Kentucky, and Western Texas. No data on circuit court business was submitted by the Northern District of New York.
8. No reports submitted by Southern District of Georgia.
9. No report received by the following districts and territories: Northern Florida, Southern Georgia, New Hampshire, Northern New York, Arizona, Dakota, District of Columbia, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Washington, Wyoming.
10. No report submitted by the territory of New Mexico.
11. 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 year.
12. In 1992, the statistical year was changed to coincide with the fiscal year, which ended on September 30. The 1992 report included statistics for the 12-month period ending September 30, 1991, which is included here.
13. Statistical year changed to ending September 30.

Sources:
1873–1880: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Exhibit C.
1881–1902: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Exhibit D.
1903–1904: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Exhibit 14.
1905–1907: Annual Report of the Attorney General, Exhibit 9.
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: Annual Report of the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Table 4.
1941: Annual Report of the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Table 3.
1942–44: Annual Report of the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Table 5.
1945–2010 : Annual Report of the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Table C-1.