The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 54
(art. 54) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter referred to as "the Convention"),
Having regard to the judgment of the European Court of Human
Rights in the Beaumartin case delivered on 24 November 1994 and
transmitted the same day to the Committee of Ministers;
Recalling that the case originated in an application
(No. 15287/89) against France, lodged with the European Commission
of Human Rights on 19 June 1989 under Article 25 (art. 25) of the
Convention by Mr Pierre Beaumartin and his two sisters Jeanne Droin
and Paule Thibout, all French nationals, and that the Commission
declared admissible the complaints regarding the length of the
proceedings before the administrative courts and the fairness of
the proceedings before the Conseil d'Etat to the extent that the
court held itself to be bound by the opinion of the Minister of
Foreign Affairs with regard to the interpretation of the
international treaty at issue in the case;
Recalling that the case was brought before the Court by the
Commission on 9 September 1993;
Whereas in its judgment of 24 November 1994 the Court
unanimously:
- held that Article 6, paragraph 1 (art. 6-1), of the
Convention was applicable in the case;
- held that there had been a breach of Article 6, paragraph 1
(art. 6-1), on account of the length of the proceedings;
- held that there had been a breach of Article 6, paragraph 1
(art. 6-1, in that the applicants' case was not heard by an
independent "tribunal" having full jurisdiction;
- held that the respondent state was to pay the applicants,
within three months, 100 000 French francs for non-pecuniary damage
and 80 000 French francs for costs and expenses;
- dismissed the remainder of the claim for just satisfaction;
Having regard to the Rules adopted by the Committee of
Ministers concerning the application of Article 54 (art. 54) of the
Convention;
Having invited the Government of France to inform it of the
measures which had been taken in consequence of the judgment of
24 November 1994, having regard to France's obligation under
Article 53 (art. 53) of the Convention to abide by it;
Whereas, during the examination of the case by the Committee
of Ministers, the Government of France gave the Committee
information about the measures taken in consequence of the
judgments, which information appears in the appendix to this
resolution;
Having satisfied itself that on 1 April 1995, at the latest,
the Government of France paid the applicants the sums provided for
in the judgment of 24 November 1994,
Declares, after having taken note of the information supplied
by the Government of France, that it has exercised its functions
under Article 54 (art. 54) of the Convention in this case.
Appendix to Resolution DH (95) 254
Information provided by the Government of France
during the examination of the Beaumartin case
by the Committee of Ministers
As first concerns the jurisprudence with regard to the
interpretation of international treaties, the French Government
recalls that by a judgment of 29 June 1990, the Conseil d'Etat,
sitting in plenary session, abandoned the practice of referring the
question of the interpretation of international treaties, the
wording of which is uncertain or ambiguous, to the Minister of
Foreign Affairs (l'envoi préjudiciel). Henceforth, the Conseil
d'Etat itself interprets international treaties, and, if it
requests the opinion of the executive power, it does not feel bound
thereby (see paragraphs 20 and 38 of the judgment of the Court,
Series A, No. 296-B).
Secondly, the French Government has engaged in an ambitious
reform of administrative procedure, adopted by parliament on
31 December 1987, in order to face the problems resulting from the
overload of cases before the Conseil d'Etat and the ensuing
prolongation of the time needed to deliver judgment.
The central element of the reform is the setting up of
administrative courts of appeal, above the administrative tribunals
and under the Conseil d'Etat.
Article 1 of the law provides the five inter-regional appeal
courts set up with basically the same appellate competence as the
Conseil d'Etat: "appeals lodged against judgments from the
administrative courts, except those concerning questions of
legality, disputes regarding municipal and cantonal elections and
ultra vires actions against regulatory acts."
An Act of 8 February 1995 has completed this reform. It has
transferred the competence to deal with all ultra vires actions,
including the power to deal with appeals directed against
regulatory acts, to the administrative courts of appeal as from
1 October 1995.
Today the administrative courts of appeal have, accordingly,
taken over the role of the Conseil d'Etat as appellate jurisdiction
vis à vis the administrative courts. In 1988 the new appeal courts
were, accordingly, provided with important means in the form of
personnel, material and new premises.
These means will be further improved through the Act
of 6 February 1995, the Act on Justice for the next five-year term
(loi quinquennale sur la justice), which provides, for the period
until 1999, the recruitment of 180 magistrates and the creation of
200 posts within the registries of the administrative courts of
first and second instance.
Today the competence of the Conseil d'Etat, thus redefined, is
the following:
1. an unchanged competence as first and final instance, which
competence represented 10%-12% of the judgments from the years
preceding the setting up of the administrative courts of appeal.
The main competence relates to disputes which are of particular
national importance (namely appeals directed against decrees and
regulatory acts by ministers);
2. a completely residual competence as appeal judge vis-à-vis the
administrative tribunals which concerns appeals in election matters
and the rare appeals which concern the question of legality
(recours en appréciation de légalité);
3. a competence as cassation judge with respect to the
administrative courts of appeal, which today constitutes the most
important competence of the Conseil d'Etat.
Furthermore, the requests for cassation lodged with the
Conseil d'Etat are efficiently filtered by a special commission.
In fact, Article 11, first paragraph, of the Act of
31 December 1987, has provided for an initial procedure dealing
with the admissibility of cassation requests formulated under the
decree of 2 September 1988. The Commission competent to decide on
the question of the admissibility of cassation requests instituted
by this decree can reject, by motivated judgment, requests which
are inadmissible or devoid of chances of success.
Finally, the Conseil d'Etat has pursued an important effort in
order to regroup its files according to their object, to specialise
its sub-sections, to streamline the instruction of the cases and to
computerise the handling of the cases.
The effects of these measures of a general character are
already being felt in terms of length of proceedings.
As from the creation of the administrative courts of appeal,
the number of cases inscribed on the list of the Conseil d'Etat has
decreased with some 5 000 cases which have been transferred to the
new jurisdictions. The years which have followed this transfer are
characterised by a balance between incoming and outgoing cases, in
a general context of increasing litigation.
More recently and as a result of the progressive transfer of
competence, which continued until 1 October 1995, the situation of
the Conseil d'Etat has been very positive. The number of cases
judged has increased by some 10% between 1993 and 1994, to reach
11 314 files in terms of corrected series of cases. This
remarkable result has allowed the number of cases on the list to
decrease by some 3 000 files, bringing it to some 19 300 cases
(whereas it comprised 25 000 cases at the end of 1987).
At this moment, 60% of the appeals result in judgment in less
than two years, and the list, on which three-quarters of the cases
are less than three years old, now comprise much more recent cases.
The average time needed to render judgment is, accordingly,
today less than two years, whereas it was thirty-six months in 1987
and twenty-six months in 1990. A period of eighteen months, which
is the short-term objective pursued, accordingly appears within
reach considering the excess of cases judged as compared to the
number of new cases.
The government, moreover, wishes to specify that the judgment
of the Court has been published in the Bulletin d'information de la
Cour de cassation and in the Recueil Dalloz Sirey, ensuring in this
way that the jurisprudence of the Court is efficiently disseminated
to the courts concerned.
The French Government considers that these measures will help
to avoid the repetition of violations such as those found in the
present case.
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy