PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 24203/05) 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, Mr Jarosław Kyzioł (“the applicant”), on 17 June 2005.

The Polish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr J. Wołąsiewicz of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On 7 December 2006 the President of the Fourth Section of the Court decided to give notice of the application to the Government. Applying Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it was decided to rule on the admissibility and merits of the application at the same time.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1969 and lives in Cracow. 1 Civil proceedings for dissolution of co-ownership

On 28 October 1994 a housing co-operative filed with the Cracow District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) a claim for dissolution of co-ownership of five plots of land. The applicant is one of the co-owners of the land in question and has his family house there. There were 182 parties to the proceedings at the time when they were first instituted. This number has since increased to 417.

On 16 October 1997 the Cracow Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy) decided to join the case in question to a related case involving a claim for the ascertainment of the ownership right to the same land, and to examine them together.

On 1 March 1999 the President of the Cracow District Court appointed an expert in geodesy. On 19 July 1999 the court admitted his expert report as evidence. On 1 July 2002 the President of the Cracow District Court requested that the original report be updated. The additional expert report was furnished in June 2003.

On 20 November and 18 December 2003 respectively the court decided to exclude two judges from dealing with the case. Moreover, on 18 December 2003 the Cracow District Court decided of its own motion to stay the proceedings due to the deaths of several of the parties, the need to ascertain the shares of their legal heirs and to summon new parties.

On 13 April 2006 the Cracow District Court resumed the proceedings since the successors of the deceased parties had been summoned to participate. However, in the same decision the court decided to stay the proceedings due to new circumstances, namely the deaths of other parties.

2. Proceedings under the 2004 Act

On 15 December 2005 the applicant lodged a complaint about the unreasonable length of proceedings under the Act of 17 June 2004 on complaints about a breach of the right to a trial within a reasonable time (Ustawa o skardze na naruszenie prawa strony do rozpoznania sprawy w postępowaniu sądowym bez nieuzasadnionej zwłoki) (“the 2004 Act”).

On 14 February 2006 the Cracow Regional Court dismissed the complaint. The court held that the 2004 Act did not have retroactive effect and, consequently it examined the applicant’s claim only in respect of the period between the entry into force of the 2004 Act on 17 September 2004 and the date on which the complaint had been lodged by the applicant. The Cracow Regional Court found that the proceedings remained stayed due to the objective obstacle posed by the deaths of several of the parties and the delays caused by their legal heirs in submitting inheritance titles. The domestic court also emphasised that there was a considerable and ever-changing number of parties to the proceedings.