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For example, in Axen v Germany (1983) 6 EHRR 195, after proceedings publicly
heard at first instance, the applicant appealed to the German Federal Court of Justice
which dismissed the appeal without a hearing and without publicly pronouncing
judgment, merely serving it on the applicant in writing. Its members had unanimously
considered the appeal on points of law to be ill-founded and that oral argument was
unnecessary; having sought the views of the parties in writing beforehand.
(a)
The E Ct HR examined the entirety of the proceedings, asking whether, taken as
a whole, they met the purposes of Art 6(1) which were described at §25, to be as
follows :-
"The public character of proceedings before the judicial bodies referred to in Article 6
para. 1 protects litigants against the administration of justice in secret with no public
scrutiny; it is also one of the means whereby confidence in the courts, superior and
inferior, can be maintained."
(b)
It was held that they did since (i) there had been a public hearing below; (ii)
dismissing the appeal on legal grounds meant that the Federal Court was merely
approving and making final the decision below, which had been pronounced in
open court; (iii) had the Federal Court been minded to reverse the lower court,
its rules would have made oral argument compulsory.
Notes
At §28 and §32.
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