Day 157 - 18 Jul 95 - Page 42


     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
     2
     3   MR. RAMPTON:  Can I just read Article 25?  It will save time.
     4        It says this -- this is the enabling provision for
     5        individuals, that is all:  "The Commission may receive
     6        petitions addressed to the Secretary General of the Council
     7        of Europe from any person, non-governmental organisation or
     8        group of individuals claiming to be the victim of a
     9        violation by one of the high contracting parties, that
    10        those are the governments of the rights set forth in this
    11        Convention, provided that the high contracting party
    12        against who the complaint has been lodged has declared that
    13        it recognises the competence of the Commission to receive
    14        such petitions."
    15
    16        My Lord, therefore, in this case, for example, the
    17        Defendants are enabled by Article 25 to make a complaint to
    18        the Commission because the United Kingdom government has
    19        recognised the competence of the Commission by ratifying
    20        the treaty.
    21
    22        My Lord, Article 27, (1) does not matter for these
    23        purposes.  "(2)  The Commission shall consider inadmissible
    24        any petition submitted in Article 25 which it considers
    25        incompatible with the provisions of the present Convention
    26        manifestly ill-founded or an abuse of the right of
    27        petition."
    28
    29        My Lord, I shall come back to the words as you will see in
    30        a moment "manifestly ill-founded" just a little later on.
    31        Your Lordship remembers that the scheme of petitions or
    32        applications to the European Court of Strasbourg is that an
    33        application is made by way of petition to the Commission.
    34        The Commission may declare the petition admissible or
    35        inadmissible.  If it declares it inadmissible, then it goes
    36        on to be heard by the European Court.  It may be
    37        inadmissible for a number of reasons but if it is held to
    38        be manifestly ill-founded, then it is chucked out neck and
    39        crop.  In other words, it is dismissed in limine.
    40
    41        My Lord, the only other two Articles which I believe I need
    42        to draw your Lordship's attention to are Article 6 which is
    43        on page 4 and the top of page 5 -- 6.1 in fact.  6.2
    44        applies, I think, only to criminal proceedings.  6.1: "In
    45        the determination of a civil rights and obligations or of
    46        any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a
    47        fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an
    48        independent and impartial tribunal established by law.
    49        Judgment shall be pronounced publicly, but the press and
    50        public may be excluded from all or part of the trial in the 
    51        interests of morals, public order or national security in a 
    52        democratic society", and so on and so forth.  I need not 
    53        read the rest of that.
    54
    55        My Lord, the other Article which may have some relevance to
    56        the circumstances of this case, or might have, is Article
    57        14 at the bottom of page 8:  "The enjoinment of the rights
    58        and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured
    59        without discrimination on any grounds such as sex, race,
    60        colour, language, religion, political or other opinion,

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