Tokens: (
iv
)
A
public
hearing
"
within
a
reasonable
time
"
-
There
are
other
pointers
in
the
same
direction
,
which
also
involve
the
principle
of
maintaining
a
due
congruity
between
the
civil
and
criminal
aspects
of
Article
6.1
(
art
.
6
-
1
)
.
One
such
pointer
is
afforded
by
the
United
Kingdom
argument
(
only
referred
to
in
the
Judgment
(
paragraph
32
)
in
a
manner
that
fails
to
bring
out
its
relevance
-
indeed
seems
wholly
to
misunderstand
it[31
]
)
concerning
the
implications
of
the
requirement
in
the
Article
(
art
.
6
-
1
)
that
trial
shall
take
place
within
a
reasonable
time
.
"
Within
a
reasonable
time
"
of
what
?
The
Article
does
not
say
.
In
the
case
of
criminal
proceedings
there
can
be
no
room
for
doubt
that
the
starting
point
must
be
the
time
of
arrest
or
of
formal
charge
.
It
is
only
common
sense
to
suppose
that
it
could
not
lie
in
an
indeterminate
preceding
period
when
the
authorities
were
perhaps
considering
whether
they
would
make
a
charge
,
and
were
taking
legal
advice
about
that
-
or
were
trying
to
find
the
accused
in
order
to
arrest
him
.
In
my
view
exactly
the
same
principle
must
apply
mutatis
mutandis
to
civil
proceedings
,
not
only
because
otherwise
a
serious
degree
of
incommensurate
treatment
would
be
introduced
between
the
two
types
of
proceedings
,
but
for
practical
reasons
also
.
In
civil
proceedings
,
the
period
of
reasonable
time
must
begin
to
run
from
the
moment
the
complaint
is
formalized
by
the
issue
of
a
writ
,
summons
or
other
official
instrument
under
,
or
in
accordance
with
,
which
the
defendant
is
notified
of
the
action
.
This
again
is
only
common
sense
.
Any
period
previous
to
that
,
while
the
plaintiff
is
considering
whether
to
act
,
is
taking
legal
advice
,
or
is
gathering
evidence
,
is
irrelevant
or
too
indeterminate
to
serve
,
since
no
fixed
moment
could
be
found
within
it
to
act
as
a
starting
point
for
the
lapse
of
a
"
reasonable
time
"
.
If
this
were
not
so
,
the
starting
point
could
be
"
related
back
"
for
months
or
even
,
in
some
cases
,
years
,
thus
making
nonsense
of
the
whole
requirement
of
trial
"
within
a
reasonable
time
"
,
the
sole
real
object
of
which
is
to
prevent
undue
delay
in
bringing
causes
to
trial
.
But
the
effect
of
the
Court
’s
view
is
that
since
Article
6.1
(
art
.
6
-
1
)
itself
does
not
specify
any
starting
point
;
the
Court
would
have
to
determine
this
ad
hoc
for
,
and
in
,
each
particular
case
.
In
consequence
,
governments
could
never
know
in
advance
within
what
precise
period
causes
must
be
brought
to
trial
in
order
to
satisfy
the
requirements
of
the
Article
(
art
.
6
-
1
)
,
-
a
wholly
unacceptable
situation
.
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