Information Note on the Court’s case-law 14

January 2000

Walker v. the United Kingdom (dec.) - 34979/97

Decision 25.1.2000 [Section III]

Article 35

Article 35-1

Six-month period

Six month issue raised by the Court of its own motion: inadmissible

The applicant was remanded in custody for 28 days in circumstances where the judge had no power to imprison. On 14 February 1996, upon the applicant’s request for judicia l review, the High Court found that his remand in custody had been unlawful. The applicant’s subsequent action for compensation was to no avail.

Inadmissible under Articles 5 § 1 and § 5, 6 and 13: The final decision to be taken into consideration was the High Court’s decision. The applicant introduced his application on 18 October 1996, outside the six month time-limit. As to whether the absence of observations from the Government on the question of the six months’ rule could have affected this position, i t was recalled that this rule, in reflecting the wish of the Contracting Parties to prevent past decisions being called into question after an indefinite lapse of time, serves the interests not only of the respondent Government but also of legal certainty itself. It marks out the temporal limits of supervision carried out by the organs of the Convention and signals to both individuals and State authorities the period beyond which supervision is no longer possible. The application of the six months’ rule can not be set aside solely because a Government have not made a preliminary objection based on it: out of time.

© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.

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