EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

[Excerpt paras 35-36]

In the Golder case (1975),

The European Court of Human Rights, taking its decision in plenary session in application of Rule 48 of the Rules of Court and composed of the following judges:

Mr. G. Balladore Pallieri, President,

Mr. H. Mosler,

Mr. A. Verdross,

Mr. E. Rodenbourg,

Mr. M. Zekia,

Mr. J. Cremona,

Mrs. I. H. Pedersen,

Mr. T. Vilhjálmsson,

Mr. R. Ryssdal,

Mr. A. Bozer,

Mr. W. J. Ganshof van der Meersch,

Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice,

and also Mr. M.-A. Eissen, Registrar and Mr. J.F. Smyth, Deputy Registrar,

Having deliberated in private,

Decides as follows:

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35 […] It would be inconceivable, in the opinion of the Court, that Article 6 para. 1 (art. 6-1) should describe in detail the procedural guarantees afforded to parties in a pending lawsuit and should not first protect that which alone makes it in fact possible to benefit from such guarantees, that is, access to a court. The fair, public and expeditious characteristics of judicial proceedings are of no value at all if there are no judicial proceedings.

36. Taking all the preceding considerations together, it follows that the right of access constitutes an element which is inherent in the right stated by Article 6 para. 1 (art. 6-1). This is not an extensive interpretation forcing new obligations on the Contracting States: it is based on the very terms of the first sentence of Article 6 para. 1 (art. 6-1) read in its context and having regard to the object and purpose of the Convention, a lawmaking treaty (see the Wemhoff judgment of 27 June 1968, Series A no. 7, p. 23, para. 8), and to general principles of law.

The Court thus reaches the conclusion, without needing to resort to "supplementary means of interpretation" as envisaged at Article 32 of the Vienna Convention, that Article 6 para. 1 (art. 6-1) secures to everyone the right to have any claim relating to his civil rights and obligations brought before a court or tribunal. In this way the Article embodies the "right to a court", of which the right of access, that is the right to institute proceedings before courts in civil matters, constitutes one aspect only. To this are added the guarantees laid down by Article 6 para. 1 (art. 6-1) as regards both the organisation and composition of the court, and the conduct of the proceedings. In sum, the whole makes up the right to a fair hearing. The Court has no need to ascertain in the present case whether and to what extent Article 6 para. 1 (art. 6-1) further requires a decision on the very substance of the dispute (English "determination", French "décidera").

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