Information Note on the Court’s case-law No.
September 1995
G. v. France - 15312/89
Judgment 27.9.1995
Article 7
Article 7-1
Heavier penalty
Retroactivity
Conviction for indecent assault and sentence under a law whose entry into force postdated the commission of the offence: no violation
[This summary is extracted from the Court’s official reports (Series A or Reports of Judgments and Decisions). Its formatting and structure may therefore differ from the Case-Law Information Note summaries.]
I.SCOPE OF THE CASE
Court lacked jurisdiction to take cognisance of a complaint based on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and declared inadmissible by the Commission.
Conclusion: no jurisdiction to take cognisance of complaint (unanimously).
II.ARTICLE 7 § 1 OF THE CONVENTION
Article 7 § 1: embodies generally principle that only the law can define a crime and prescribe a penalty and prohibits in particular retrospective application of the criminal law.
In instant case facts of which applicant was accused fell within scope of both former law as consistently construed by the courts and new legislation. As regards imposition of sanctions, new provisions applied retrospectively, but this operated in applicant's favour as he benefited from downgrading of offence from serious offence (crime) to less serious offence (délit).
Conclusion: no violation (unanimously).
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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