Information Note on the Court’s case-law 53
May 2003
Montcornet de Caumont v. France (dec.) - 59290/00
Decision 13.5.2003 [Section II]
Article 6
Criminal proceedings
Article 6-1
Criminal charge
Proceedings concerning a request for amnesty: Article 6 inapplicable
The applicant, who had been convicted of speeding and fined, sought to take advantage of a law granting an amnesty. The Court of Appeal dismissed his application; it observed that the offence of which the applicant had been found guilty was expressly excluded from the scope of the amnesty law. The Court of Cassation dismissed the applicant’s appeal on a point of law.
Inadmissible under Article 6 § 1: proceedings in respect of the conditions of the application of an amnesty law to a conviction which has already become final do not concern the “determination of … civil rights and obligations”. Nor, as regards the enforcement of penalties, do such proceedings concern a “criminal charge”. Article 6 therefore does not apply to a dispute concerning the existence or the scope of an amnesty law.
Inadmissible under Article 7: The non-application of an amnesty law does not constitute a conviction under the criminal law and does not concern the conditions in which that conviction was pronounced. Article 7 therefore does not apply.
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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