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The files are arranged chronologically by year and precisely identified by a sequential file number. The numbering indicates gaps (lost files and/or files transferred to the mixed courts for jurisdiction).

The management of judicial proceedings, especially civil proceedings, by way of derogation from the general principle that jurisdiction derives from national sovereignty, created serious difficulties in the administration of litigation, considerably slowing it down. Among the main drawbacks was the difficulty of handling proceedings involving individuals of different nationalities. Plaintiffs were required to initiate as many civil actions as there were defendants, before different courts applying different rules. There was no consolidation of related claims into a single proceeding, resulting in increased costs and substantial delays in matters requiring swift decisions.
Other issues also arose, such as the impossibility for defendants to request seizure as security for payment against subjects of a nationality other than their own.

The need for reform of a system perceived as archaic was widely felt. The establishment of a 'mixed' court capable of handling proceedings involving parties of different nationalities became a reality in 1875.

Accordingly, the series of civil proceedings consists, until 1875, of a large number of case files, often thin. The approval of the reform marks a turning point: the volume of proceedings decreases, as they concern only litigation between nationals and matters of lesser complexity.

Consular assistance took many forms.

The consulate exercised civil and criminal jurisdiction over its nationals.

The privileges and exemptions granted over the centuries, known as capitulations, formed the framework within which consulates operated.

Both civil and criminal matters concerning non-Ottoman subjects fell under the competence of the consulates on which they depended, by derogation from the general principle that jurisdiction derives from territorial sovereignty.

The legal principle ‘actor sequitur forum rei’ applied: in summary, a defendant could be tried only by the court of the consulate to which they belonged; consular jurisdiction applied to all disputes between compatriots or involving a national.

Art. 1-34. Istituzione di una sezione italiana per i detenuti del distretto consolare di Alessandria d'Egitto nell'edificio delle Zaptic (art. 1)