Hornsby v. Greece
The case that set the doctrine
19 March 1997. Nearly thirty years on, it remains the leading authority in every non-enforcement case.
Unpaid public debt does not end with the body that fails to pay.
It ends with the State. Pre-qualification checks whether your claim meets the general requirements to get that far; the legal assessment is made by a qualified lawyer, whose written opinion tells you by which route and on what timeline. If it cannot get that far, you will know early.
Does your case qualify?01 · The basis
Winning a case is not the same as getting paid. The Convention agrees.
In 1997 the European Court of Human Rights established something that redrew the map: enforcing a judgment is part of the “trial”. If a State recognises a debt in a judgment and then does not pay it, that is not an administrative delay but the violation of a right. Everything that follows rests on that.
- Art. 6 § 1
Right to a fair trial
Enforcement is part of the trial, not a step that comes after it. A ruling that goes unenforced is a trial that has not ended.
- Art. 1 P1
Protection of property
A claim recognised by a final ruling is a “possession”. Not paying it is an interference with property, not an accounting delay.
- Art. 46
Someone makes sure the State pays
Execution of judgments is supervised by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. It does not close the file until the State has paid and remedied the cause: pressure sustained over years.
46
States where the same rules apply
The same court, the same Convention and the same articles across the Council of Europe. The only thing that changes from border to border is the domestic phase.
€100M
and portfolios beyond
We accept anything from six-figure claims to portfolios of more than €100M. The route does not change with the amount: what changes is how many files go as a block.
02 · The leverage
Why a State ends up paying.
It is the question nobody asks out loud: even if you win, why would a State bother paying you? The answer is not in your file. It is in what your file reveals.
Step 1 of 4
A judgment against the State is never only about you
When the Court finds a structural violation, it is not just deciding a case: it is describing a defect. Everyone in the same position has exactly the same complaint, and the State knows it before anyone else.
Step 2 of 4
Your invoice stops being an invoice
What goes in as one specific award comes out as a contingent exposure of unknown size. From then on it is handled not by the body’s legal department but by whoever draws up the budget.
Step 3 of 4
And someone keeps count
The Committee of Ministers does not close the file until the State has paid and remedied the cause. A file left open there is a file to be explained, year after year, before the other Council of Europe States.
Step 4 of 4
Which is why this goes to court
That is why we do not frame your claim as a negotiation with whoever is not paying, but as a legal procedure. Taking it to court is what moves the decision away from the debtor body and into a forum where the State has to answer.
03 · The timeline
How long it takes, unvarnished.
It is a long route and we will not present it as anything else. The useful question is not whether it is fast, which it is not, but which stretch takes the time and who sets its pace.
In your jurisdiction
Strasbourg does not take a case that has not been through your own courts first: you need the ruling, and you need to have exhausted the domestic remedies. This is the stretch that varies most, because it depends on the forum and on the body that is not paying, which is why the range runs from a few months to a couple of years. When the final domestic decision is delivered, a four-month clock starts, and it does not stop.
- Against whom
- The body that is not paying
- What you get
- A final ruling, with domestic remedies exhausted
In Strasbourg
Here the case changes respondent: it is no longer directed at the body that did not pay but at the State, which is what lifts the debt out of a town hall’s legal department and puts it where budgets are drawn up. This is the long stretch, and the only one whose timetable neither side sets: it is fixed by an international court with more cases than it can resolve. What comes out of it is a judgment, not a recommendation.
- Against whom
- The State
- What you get
- A judgment with a payment deadline and interest
Back in your jurisdiction
You return to where you started, no longer with a disputed invoice but with a judgment. It usually sets a three-month deadline for payment, after which default interest runs. And if the State drags its feet, the case is not shelved: the Committee of Ministers does not close the file until the State has paid and remedied the cause, and the State has to account for it year after year before the other States.
- Against whom
- The State, now bound by a judgment
- What you get
- Payment, and a file someone is watching
Doing nothing
Open-ended
It is not the neutral option, even if it looks like one. The claim is still there, the interest accrues on paper, and the file does not move because nobody is moving it. The only clock actually running is the limitation period, and that one runs against you.
- Against whom
- Nobody
- What you get
- Interest you do not collect either
04 · Expectations
What you can expect and what you cannot.
What you can expect
A declaration that binds the State
And, once final, it cannot be appealed.
Just satisfaction
With default interest if payment is late.
A different debtor
The State, not the local body that had no budget.
A file documented phase by phase
One you can take to your board.
What you cannot
The full amount of your invoice
Just satisfaction is set by the Court, not by you.
A short timeframe
Not here and not at any point on this route.
Taking on a case that does not hold up
We tell you before, not after.
A shortcut around domestic litigation
Strasbourg comes after it, not instead of it.
05 · Questions
What clients ask before starting.
How much does it cost to lodge an application in Strasbourg?
The Court charges no fee to lodge an application. The procedure is conducted in writing for almost all of its life, hearings are rare and no travel is required. The cost of a case is the work on the file, not court fees.
Do I have to have won the case in my country?
Yes, and to have attempted to enforce what you won. Strasbourg does not review the merits of your claim: it examines whether the State failed by not enforcing what its own courts recognised.
What if the debtor body is insolvent or dissolved?
That is usually the opposite of an obstacle. The fact that the body has nothing to pay with is precisely what shifts responsibility to the State that oversees it.
Does it work for purchased claim portfolios?
Yes, provided the chain of assignments is clean and the assignment was notified to the debtor. It is the most contested point and the first thing we review.
What happens if the State simply does not pay?
Execution is supervised by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, and in parallel you return to the domestic procedure with the European title. The options do not run out with the judgment.
Can you tell me whether my case is viable before I engage anyone?
Yes. Pre-qualification is free and checks in a few minutes whether the case meets the general requirements. If it does, the claim viability opinion, issued by a qualified lawyer, examines it in depth and gives you the answer in writing; the opinion is yours whether or not you continue with us.
Who assesses my case?
Pre-qualification is a first filter on objective criteria — final ruling, public debtor, subject matter, timing and amount — not a legal opinion. The legal assessment of every case is always made by a qualified lawyer, who replies to you and, if you engage us, represents you. ONRIGHTS is the platform: it is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.