This contribution presents the main results of a research project which studied the role and significance of the Sacra Romana Rota on the basis of the source material of the Rota in the Vatican Secret Archives. This article provides answers to three central questions: 1) what kinds of cases did the Rota deal with? Here the results confirmed the earlier common assumption that most of the cases handled in the Rota were litigations over benefices; 2) what was the geographical provenance of the Rota litigations? Here the project noticed that the majority of Rota processes originated from central territories of the Latin West: Italy, Iberian Peninsula, France and Germany; 3) how long did the Rota processes last? Here the results showed surprisingly that the litigations did not last for eternity, as earlier has been assumed, but that a large number of litigations were very short indicating that the plaintiffs never intended to carry on the litigation but rather to intimidate their adversaries. All in all, the project concluded that it is necessary to re-evaluate the role and significance of the Rota in solving litigation processes.