PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 74073/01) against the Republic of Poland lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Polish national, Mrs Krystyna Domańska (“the applicant”), on 18 May 2000.

The Polish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agents, Mr K. Drzewicki, and subsequently, Mr J. Wołąsiewicz of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On 10 March 2003 the President of the Fourth Section decided to communicate the complaint concerning the length of the proceedings to the Government. Under the provisions of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it was decided to examine the merits of the application at the same time as its admissibility. The President of the Chamber further gave priority of the application, pursuant to Rule 41 of the Rules of the Court.

THE FACTS

The applicant was born in 1929 and lives in Jarosław, Poland.

On 4 November 1994 the applicant lodged with the Jarosław District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) a civil action against the Jarosław City Council (Gmina Miejska) in which she requested the court to amend the land register. She further applied for exemption from the court fees.

On 21 November 1994 the case was transferred to the Przemyśl Regional Court (Sąd Wojewódzki).

On the same day, upon the court’s request, the applicant specified her claim.

On 30 January 1995 the court partly exempted the applicant from the court fees.

In April 1995 the court again ordered the applicant to specify her claim.

On 24 April 1995 the Regional Court held the first hearing.

Subsequently, the hearings were held on 20 June and 3 October 1995. At the latter hearing the court ordered an expert opinion.

On 16 April 1996 an expert submitted his opinion to the court.

On 27 August 1996 the court held a hearing at which it ordered a second expert opinion. The opinion was submitted to the court in January 1997.

The next hearings were held on 31 January, 25 February, 18 March, 18 April and 30 May 1997.

On 6 June 1997 the Przemyśl Regional Court gave judgment in which it dismissed the applicant’s claim.

On 4 August 1997 the applicant lodged an appeal against this judgment.

On 7 October 1997 the applicant was partly exempted from the court fees in the appellate proceedings.

On 8 October 1998 the Rzeszów Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny) dismissed the applicant’s appeal.

On 9 November 1998 the applicant lodged a cassation appeal. On 20 November 1998 the Rzeszów Court of Appeal exempted the applicant from the fees for lodging the cassation appeal.

On 25 May 2001 the Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy) refused to entertain the cassation appeal as it was manifestly ill-founded and raised no serious legal issues.