Conditions of Admissibility and Access to Justice – A Slovenian Perspective

Summary

Introduction

In Roman law, Celsus formulated the famous principle actio nihil aliud est quam ius persequendi iudicio quod sibi debetur. In European states, access to the courts is granted to individual claimants: ‘Access to justice is a fundamental pillar of Western legal culture.’ However, the right of access to the courts is not absolute, but may be subject to limitations; these are permitted by implication since the right of access to the courts ‘by its very nature calls for regulation by the State, regulation which may vary in time and in place according to the needs and resources of the community and of individuals’. In Slovenia, the communis opinio doctorum holds that the most common limitation of access to justice or to the courts is to be found in the form of conditions of admissibility of civil actions.

This contribution begins with an examination of the conditions of admissibility from the point of view of human rights in international and constitutional law. It then describes the role and types of conditions of admissibility in Slovenian civil procedure and gives an overview of the theoretical and judicial application of conditions of admissibility in Slovenia. Next, it presents the division and types of conditions of admissibility. Owing to the international nature of the conference for which this contribution was initially prepared, the contribution concludes with an examination of the conditions of admissibility linked to international law (such as the Slovenian application of the principle par in parem non habet iurisdictionem).

The Slovenian Constitution, Article 6 of the (European) Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and Conditions of Admissibility

According to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia:

The right to judicial protection (Article 23 of the Constitution, Article 6 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms …) does not mean solely a right to proceedings and to a judicial decision, but also a right to a decision on the merits.

In the same sense, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that:

[T]he Court reiterates that Article 6 § 1 of the [European] Convention [on Human Rights] guarantees the right of access to a court for the determination of civil disputes.