PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 46800/99) against the French Republic lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a French national, Ms Marie-Françoise Del Sol (“the applicant”), on 12 November 1998.

The applicant, who had been granted legal aid, was represented by Mr J.-M. Hocquard, a lawyer practising in Paris. The French Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mrs M. Dubrocard, Deputy Head of Human Rights, Legal Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The applicant alleged that the refusal of her application for legal aid to appeal to the Court of Cassation had infringed her right of access to a court, contrary to Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.

The application was allocated to the Third Section of the Court (Rule 52 § 1 of the Rules of Court). Within that Section, the Chamber that would consider the case (Article 27 § 1 of the Convention) was constituted as provided in Rule 26 § 1.

By a decision of 3 April 2001, the Chamber declared the application admissible [Note by the Registry. The Court's decision is obtainable from the Registry].

The Chamber having decided, after consulting the parties, that no hearing on the merits was required (Rule 59 § 2 in fine), the parties replied in writing to each other's observations.

On 1 November 2001 the Court changed the composition of its Sections (Rule 25 § 1), but this case remained with the Chamber constituted within the former Third Section.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

By a judgment of 6 October 1995, the Paris tribunal de grande instance made a divorce order terminating the marriage of Mr and Mrs Del Sol, ordered the liquidation and partition of the matrimonial property, set the level of maintenance to be paid to the applicant at 1,300 French francs (FRF) monthly and dismissed a claim for damages by the applicant.

On 8 December 1995 the applicant appealed against that judgment, stating, inter alia, that her husband, the petitioner in the proceedings, had failed to satisfy the conditions set out in the Civil Code, as he had no rights in the assets he had offered to leave her. She argued in the alternative that a divorce would cause her exceptional hardship and that her husband's petition should be dismissed in accordance with Article 240 of the Civil Code, which empowered the court to dismiss a divorce petition if the respondent showed that “the divorce would cause the respondent ... or the children exceptional material or psychological hardship ...”. The applicant also sought maintenance in the form of monthly payments of FRF 3,000.

On 25 February 1997 the Paris Court of Appeal upheld all the provisions of the impugned judgment, with the exception of the decision relating to maintenance, which was reduced to FRF 1,000 monthly. It held, inter alia, that the applicant's husband satisfied all the conditions on which the admissibility of the divorce petition depended, as he had offered to assign to the applicant his rights in property which the couple jointly owned in Italy. It further held that the applicant had failed to show that the divorce would cause her exceptional hardship, either psychologically or materially.

On 20 May 1997 the applicant applied to the Legal Aid Office at the Court of Cassation for legal aid to enable her to appeal to that court against the Court of Appeal's decision. Her application was refused on 2 April 1998 on the ground that no arguable ground of appeal could be made out against the impugned judgment. The Legal Aid Office noted, however, that the applicant satisfied the means test for legal aid.

On 22 May 1998 the applicant appealed against that decision. By an order of 11 June 1998 the President of the Court of Cassation upheld it, holding that the Legal Aid Office had “found no arguable ground of appeal after assessing the facts of the case in its unfettered discretion”.