THIRD SECTION

Application no. 58613/08 Liviu IGNAT against Romania lodged on 27 November 2008

STATEMENT OF FACTS

THE FACTS

The applicant, Mr Liviu Ignat , is a Romanian national who was born in 1967 and lives in Ia ÅŸ i . He was rep resented before the Court by Ms S. Nec hita , a lawyer practising in IaÅŸ i .

A. The circumstances of the case

The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.

On an unspecified date in 2006 the applicant brought proceedings against a third party, seeking the annulment of two sale/purchase agreements concerning an apartment.

By a judgment of 25 January 2007 the Iaşi District Court , acting as a court of first instance , allowed the applicant ’ s action on the merits and declared the two contracts null and void. The third party appealed against the judgment.

By a decision of 21 November 2007 the Iaşi County Court , sitting as a bench of two judges, allowed the third party ’ s appeal on the merits, quashed the judgment of 25 January 2007 and dismissed the applicant ’ s action. The applicant lodged an appeal on points of law ( “ recurs ” ) against this decision.

By a final decision of 2 June 2008 the Iaşi Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant ’ s appeal on points of law as inadmissible without touching on the merits of the case. The court held that, according to the applicable legal provisions in force at the time, the applicant ’ s case was subject to examination at only two levels of jurisdiction, and therefore that the decision of the Iaşi County Cour t was final, even if the County Court had erred and had examined the applicant ’ s case in a composition of two rather than three judges.

B. Relevant domestic law

1 . The relevant parts of the Romanian Code of Civil Procedure, as in force at the material time, read as follows:

Article 281¹ § 1

“No [ordinary] appeal shall lie against judgments rendered by the courts of first instance in (...) civil cases where the subject matter of the litigation amounts to less than RON 100,000.”

Article 299 § 1

“Judgments not subject to [an ordinary] appeal (...) are subject to an appeal on points of law.”

Article 312 § 3 taken together with Article 304 point 1

“The court adjudicating on an appeal on points of law shall quash the judgments of the lower courts whe re such judgments were delivered by courts not sitting in the judicial formation prescribed by law . ”

2 . The relevant part of the Administration of Justice Act ( Law no. 304/2004 ) , as in force at the material time, read s as follows:

Article 54(2)

“ Appeals shall be examined by benches of two judges, and appeals on points of law by benches of three judges.”

C OMPLA INT

The applicant complain s under Article 6 § 1 that the composition of the bench deli vering the decision of the Iaşi County Court was not in accordance with the law.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Taking into consideration the composition of th e bench of judges, was the Iaşi County Court , which gave the decision of 21 November 2007 , a “tribunal established by law” within the meaning of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?