DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE MYJER

Since the entry into force of the Convention the expression ‘ qui juge bien juge tard ’ may be at odds with the reasonable time provision of Article 6.

Indeed, as the saying goes ‘ justice is sweetest when it is freshest ’ , but in daily practice it sometimes takes a long time before the last judicial word is said in civil proceedings. This may be the case when the case is of particular complexity or when the parties concerned make use of every remedy available at the national level. It may also be (partly) due to the fact that the national authorities did not fulfil their obligation to ensure that the national judiciary consists of sufficient judges and judicial and administrative staff to cope with all cases in time or when the national judges do not perform their task with the required expediency.

In the Lukenda judgment of 6 October 2005 this Court found that the violation of the right to a trial within a reasonable time was – as far as Slovenia is concerned – a systemic problem which resulted from inadequate legislation and inefficiency in the administration of justice. Although this finding gives rise to the assumption that in Slovenian cases in which the proceedings have lasted many years such a systemic violation will have occurred, it will still be necessary to look at the specific circumstances of each case.

In this particular case the majority found a violation of the reasonable time-requirement. I do not agree with this finding.

Although I agree that especially the Celje District Court should have acted with much more expediency and efficiency, in my opinion the overall proceedings (especially taking into account the speedy handling of the case by the Celje Higher Court and the Supreme Court) did not last excessively long before the altogether six levels of jurisdiction. One should also take into account that the applicant lodged appeal after appeal and apparently made use of any possible remedy he had, including seeking the recusal of a judge. Under such circumstances proceedings will indeed last much longer. The fact that the case was sent back to the lower court several times for re-examination in part is not uncommon in judicial practice and does not necessarily disclose a deficiency in the judicial system as such. Besides, the due to the fact that the applicant had moved to Austria in 1998 and the needed to be heard at a hearing, one year elapsed for which the Government cannot be blamed.