Chamber of Advocates resumes quarterly law seminars

The role, jurisdiction and practical functioning of the European Court of Human Rights is still not entirely clear and many believe that this Court has the same function as a final court of appeal in civil and criminal matters, according to Chief Justice Emeritus Dr Vincent De Gaetano.

“Misconceptions about the European Court of Human Rights” is in fact the theme chosen by De Gaetano, the former Judge of the European Court of Human Rights for the next in the series of Quarterly Law Seminars organised by the Malta Law Academy Foundation, the educational arm of the Chamber of Advocates.

The seminar is scheduled for Wednesday 7 October at 12.00 at the Chamber of Advocates’ Conference Hall.

“Contrary to common misconception, the European Court of Human Rights is not a court of appeal and many believe that cases are heard and determined before this Court in much the same way that cases are heard and determined before the national courts which is not the case at all,” the Chief Justice Emeritus said.

“People, including lawyers, still get confused as to what the rule regarding the exhaustion of domestic remedies (ie that domestic remedies must first be exhausted before one can apply to Strasbourg) really implies. The result is that all too many applications are declared inadmissible at single judge stage. This is what spurred me to choose this topic for my forthcoming Quarterly Law Seminar.”

Dr David Fabri and Dr Tonio Borg, both senior lecturers with the Faculty of Law, said that organising such events nowadays had become a bigger challenge.

“But the interest in our seminars is still high and we are prepared to adapt so that we can keep offering these informative talks to all members of the Chamber,” they said.   

“In fact, although this talk will be held live inside the Chamber’s conference hall, we have also made arrangements to stream the talk online via the Zoom platform. We are sure this will increase the reach to a much wider audience.”

Due to social distancing requirements, seating inside the conference hall will be limited.  The talk will therefore be simultaneously streamed online.

Registration for online participation may be done through this link: https://rb.gy/fn9lwo For physical participation, please email [email protected].