Information Note on the Court’s case-law 64

May 2004

Boulougouras v. Greece - 66294/01

Judgment 27.5.2004 [Section I]

Article 6

Civil proceedings

Article 6-1

Access to court

Rejection of appeal on points of law as inadmissible on account of registrar not having signed it: violation

Extract (Article 6 § 1): “...The Court notes that the finding of inadmissibility reached in the instant case by the Court of Cassat ion penalised the applicant for a clerical error committed when his appeal was filed. The applicant could not be held responsible for that error. The Court considers that, given that the domestic legislation provides that the person who takes receipt of th e appeal on points of law must also countersign the document containing the grounds of appeal, compliance with this condition is primarily the responsibility of the person authorised to take receipt of the appeal, in the instant case the registrar of the c riminal court. This is particularly important since the domestic legislation does not provide that a copy of an appeal on points of law should be appellant or his counsel in every case, which would reduce the likelihood of overlooking any errors by the pub lic authority authorised to take receipt of the appeal. Admittedly, the parties may request a copy of the said document on their own initiative but, in the Court's opinion, this possibility does not entail an obligation on the parties to proceedings to che ck whether the public authority which takes receipt of the appeal has correctly carried out all the procedures inherent in this role...”

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

Click here for the Case-Law Information Notes