CEDH · CASELAW;JUDGMENTS;GRANDCHAMBER;ENG — 29 avril 1999

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margin-bottom:12pt; text-indent:14.4pt; text-align:justify } .sC77A4F71 { width:6.58pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .sA2100AF { width:7.26pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .sCB7B6161 { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:right } .s5E1364CA { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:center; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:14pt } .sCA1147F8 { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; text-align:center; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid } .s76CF415B { page-break-before:always; clear:both } .sCE735C95 { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:14.2pt; text-align:center } .s23860FF7 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:14.2pt; text-align:center } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s85226119 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify; font-size:10pt } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } .s3133A7C8 { font-family:Arial; color:#0069d6 }   GRAND CHAMBER       CASE OF CHASSAGNOU AND OTHERS v. FRANCE   (Applications nos. 25088/94, 28331/95 and 28443/95)                     JUDGMENT   STRASBOURG     29 April 1999       In the case of Chassagnou and Others v. France, The European Court of Human Rights, sitting, in accordance with Article   27 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”), as amended by Protocol   No.   11 [1] , and the relevant provisions of the Rules of Court 2 , as a Grand Chamber composed of the following judges:   Mr   L. Wildhaber , President ,   Mrs   E. Palm ,   Mr   L. Caflisch ,   Mr   J. Makarczyk ,   Mr   P. Kūris ,   Mr   J.-P. Costa ,   Mr   W. Fuhrmann ,   Mr   K. Jungwiert ,   Mr   M. Fischbach ,   Mr   B. Zupančič ,   Mrs   N. Vajić ,   Mrs   W. Thomassen ,   Mrs   M. Tsatsa-Nikolovska ,   Mr   T. Panţîru ,   Mr   A.B. Baka ,   Mr   E. Levits ,   Mr   K. Traja , and also of Mrs M. de Boer-Buquicchio , Deputy Registrar , Having deliberated in private on 16 December 1998, 6 January and 17   March 1999, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on the last-mentioned date: PROCEDURE 1.     The cases of Chassagnou and Others v. France, Dumont and Others v. France and Montion v. France were referred to the Court, as established under former Article 19 of the Convention 3 , by the European Commission of Human Rights (“the Commission”) on 15 December 1997 (Chassagnou and Others case) and 16 March 1998 (cases of Dumont and Others and Montion), within the three-month period laid down by former Articles 32 §   1 and 47 of the Convention. They originated in three applications (nos.   25088/94, 28331/95 and 28443/95) against the French Republic lodged with the Commission under former Article 25 by ten French nationals. The first of these applications was lodged by Mrs Marie ‑ Jeanne Chassagnou, Mr René Petit and Mrs Simone Lasgrezas on 20 April 1994, the second by Mr Léon Dumont, Mr Pierre Galland, Mr André Galland, Mr   Edouard Petit (now deceased), Mr Michel Petit and Mr Michel Pinon on 29 April 1995 and the third by Mrs Joséphine Montion on 30 June 1995. The Commission’s requests referred to former Articles 44 and 48 and to the declaration whereby France recognised the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court (former Article 46). The object of the requests was to obtain a decision as to whether the facts of the case disclosed a breach by the respondent State of its obligations under Articles 9, 11 and 14 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1. 2.     In response to the enquiry made in accordance with Rule 33 § 3 (d) of former Rules of Court A [2] , the applicants stated that they wished to take part in the proceedings and designated the same counsel to represent them (former Rule 30). 3.     On 27 March 1998 Mr R. Bernhardt, the President of the Court at the time, decided to allocate the cases of Dumont and Others v. France and Montion v. France to the Chamber already constituted to hear the case of Chassagnou and Others v. France. 4.     On 26 June 1998 the Chamber decided to join the three cases (former Rule 37 § 3). 5.     As President of the Chamber which had originally been constituted (former Article 43 of the Convention and former Rule 21) in order to deal, in particular, with procedural matters that might arise before the entry into force of Protocol No. 11, Mr Bernhardt, acting through the Registrar, consulted the Agent of the French Government (“the Government”), the applicants’ counsel and the Delegate of the Commission on the organisation of the written procedure. Pursuant to the order made in consequence, the Registrar received the applicants’ memorial on 21 July 1998 and the Government’s memorial on 30 September 1998. 6.     After the entry into force of Protocol No. 11 on 1 November 1998 and in accordance with the provisions of Article 5 § 5 thereof, the case was referred to the Grand Chamber of the Court. The Grand Chamber included ex officio Mr J.-P. Costa, the judge elected in respect of France (Article 27 §   2 of the Convention and Rule 24 § 4 of the Rules of Court), Mr   L.   Wildhaber, the President of the Court, Mrs E. Palm, Vice-President of the Court, and Mr M. Fischbach, Vice-President of Section (Article 27 § 3 of the Convention and Rule 24 §§ 3 and 5 (a)). The other members appointed to complete the Grand Chamber were Mr L. Ferrari Bravo, Mr   L.   Caflisch, Mr J. Makarczyk, Mr W. Fuhrmann, Mr K. Jungwiert, Mr   B. Zupančič, Mrs N. Vajić, Mr J. Hedigan, Mrs W. Thomassen, Mrs   M.   Tsatsa-Nikolovska, Mr T. Panţîru, Mr E. Levits and Mr K. Traja (Rule 24 § 3 and Rule 100 § 4). Subsequently Mr Ferrari Bravo and Mr   Hedigan, who were unable to take part in the further consideration of the case, were replaced by Mr A.B. Baka and Mr P. Kūris (Rule 24 § 5 (b)). 7.     On 10 November 1998 Mr Wildhaber decided to add to the case file written observations and documents filed by the applicants’ counsel on 22   October 1998 (Rule 38 § 1). 8.     At the Court’s invitation (Rule 99), the Commission delegated one of its members, Mr J.-C. Geus, to take part in the proceedings before the Grand Chamber. 9.     In accordance with the President’s decision, a hearing took place in public in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 16 December 1998.   There appeared before the Court: (a)   for the Government Mr   J.-F. Dobelle , Deputy Director of Legal Affairs,     Ministry of Foreign Affairs,   Agent , Mr   B. Nedelec, magistrat , on secondment to the     Human Rights Section,     Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr   G. Bitti, S pecial Adviser, Human Rights Office,     European and International Affairs Service,     Ministry of Justice,   Counsel ;   (b)   for the applicants Mr   G. Charollois , Administrator of the Association for the     Protection of Wildlife (ASPAS) and the National     Society for the Protection of Nature (SNPN),   Counsel ;   (c)   for the Commission Mr   J.-C. Geus ,   Delegate , Ms   M.-T. Schoepfer ,   Secretary to the Commission .     The Court heard addresses by Mr Geus, Mr Charollois and Mr Dobelle. THE FACTS I.     introduction 10.     Given the importance of the historical context of the case, it seems appropriate – exceptionally – to preface the section of the judgment entitled “The circumstances of the case” with a brief introduction, based on the information supplied by the Government. 11.     Until the French Revolution of 1789 the right to hunt was a privilege of the nobility. Only nobles could take game, which was regarded as the lord’s property. During the Revolution there were two schools of thought on the question. The first approach, supported by Mirabeau, was to make the right to hunt the prerogative of the landowner alone; the second, which was advocated by Robespierre, was to give all citizens unconditional freedom to hunt everywhere. The first approach carried the day, as in the night of 4 August 1789 the privilege of hunting was abolished “subject to the sole reservation that landowners alone may hunt” and a decree of 11 August 1789 laid down the principle that “Every landowner has the right to destroy or cause to be destroyed, on his property only, any species of game”. Subsequently the Law of 3 May 1844, a large part of which is still in force, regulated the right to hunt by introducing hunting licences and laying down fixed hunting seasons. Section 1 of that Law, which was later codified as Article 365 of the Countryside Code and then Article L. 222-1, provided: “No one shall have the right to hunt on land belonging to another without the consent of the owner or any person entitled through or under the owner.” However, it was made clear by case-law that this consent could be tacit and that it was possible to hunt on another’s land provided that the owner of the hunting rights had not expressly manifested his opposition by means of measures such as signing a lease, swearing in a gamekeeper or putting up “private hunting” notices. 12.     Although, in an attempt to organise hunting, associations of hunters were set up spontaneously in the regions north of the Loire where large estates of agricultural land or woodland predominated, the theory of tacit consent derived from case-law led throughout the south of France, where sub-division of landholdings has created a pattern of much smaller properties, to an almost unlimited freedom to hunt, known as “ chasse banale ” (public hunting). With the exception of a few private hunting grounds, hunters could thus hunt wherever they pleased and no one was responsible for the proper management of game stocks; as a result game species in certain regions were decimated. 13.     It was in those circumstances that Law no. 64-696 of 10 July 1964, known as the “Loi Verdeille”, was enacted (see paragraphs 41 et seq. below). This provided for the creation of approved municipal hunters’ associations ( Associations communales de chasse agréées – “ACCAs”) and approved inter-municipality hunters’ associations ( Associations inter-communales de chasse agréées – “AICAs”). Section 1 (which subsequently became Article L. 222-2 of the Countryside Code, see paragraph 41 below) states that their object is “to encourage, on their hunting grounds, an increase in game stocks, the destruction of vermin and the prevention of poaching, to instruct their members in how to hunt without interfering with property rights or crops and in general to improve the technical organisation of hunting so that the sport can be practised in a more satisfactory manner”. To that end, the law requires the owners of landholdings smaller in area than a certain threshold, which varies from one département to another, to become members of any ACCA set up in their municipality and to transfer to it the hunting rights over their land in order to create municipal hunting grounds. 14.     The Loi Verdeille applies in départements of metropolitan France other than Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin and Moselle, where there is a special regime inherited from German law (see paragraph 40 below). The creation of an ACCA is compulsory in départements on a list drawn up by the Minister responsible for hunting, which designates 29 of the 93 metropolitan départements concerned, including Creuse, where Mr Dumont, Mr   A.   Galland, Mr P. Galland, Mr E. Petit, Mr M. Petit and Mr Pinon live (see paragraph 23 below) and Gironde, where Mrs Montion lives (see paragraph 28 below). In the municipalities of the remainder of these 93 départements ACCAs may be set up by the prefect on an application by anyone who can furnish evidence that at least 60% of landowners holding at least 60% of the land in the municipality agree. On 28 February 1996 ACCAs were thus set up in 851 municipalities in 39 different départements , including 53 of the 555 municipalities in Dordogne, where Mrs Chassagnou, Mr R. Petit and Mrs Lasgrezas live (see paragraph 16 below). 15.     The right to hunt belongs to the owner on his land (see paragraph 36 below), but the creation of an ACCA results in the pooling of hunting grounds within the municipality, so that the members of the association can hunt throughout the area thus formed (see paragraphs 41 and 50 below). Under certain conditions the owners of landholdings attaining in a single block a specified minimum area (60 hectares in Creuse and 20 hectares in Gironde and Dordogne) may object to inclusion of their land in the ACCA’s hunting grounds or request its removal from them (see paragraphs 47-49 below). II.     the circumstances of the case A.     Mrs Chassagnou, Mr R. Petit and Mrs Lasgrezas 16.     Mrs Chassagnou, Mr R. Petit and Mrs Lasgrezas were born in 1924, 1936 and 1927 respectively. All three are farmers and live in the département of Dordogne, Mrs Chassagnou at Tourtoirac and the other two at Sainte-Eulalie-d’Ans. They own landholdings there smaller than 20 hectares in a single block which are included in the hunting grounds of the ACCAs of Tourtoirac and Chourgnac-d’Ans. 17.     In 1985, as members of the Anti-Hunting Movement (“the ROC”), and later of the Association for the Protection of Wildlife (“the ASPAS”), an approved association of recognised public usefulness with regard to the protection of nature, the applicants placed notices at the boundaries of their property bearing the words “Hunting prohibited” and “Sanctuary”. The ACCAs of Tourtoirac and Chourgnac-d’Ans then applied for an injunction requiring the removal of these notices. The judge competent to hear urgent applications granted the injunction sought by a decision of 26 September 1985, which was upheld on 18 June 1987 by the Bordeaux Court of Appeal. 18.     On 20 August 1987 the prefect of Dordogne rejected an application from Mr R. Petit, Mrs Chassagnou and Mrs Lasgrezas for the removal of their land from the hunting grounds of the Tourtoirac and Chourgnac-d’Ans ACCAs. They then applied for judicial review of that decision to the Bordeaux Administrative Court, which found against them in a judgment of 26 May 1988. 1.     The proceedings in the Périgueux tribunal de grande instance 19.     On 30 July 1987 the applicants had brought civil proceedings against the ACCAs of Tourtoirac and Chourgnac-d’Ans in the Périgueux tribunal de grande instance . Essentially, they argued that sections 3 and 4 of the Loi Verdeille were incompatible with Articles 9, 11 and 14 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, firstly in that they provided that all unenclosed plots of land smaller than 20 hectares in area and situated more than 150 metres from any dwelling were to be included in an ACCA’s hunting grounds by means of the transfer of hunting rights to the association from the landowners or holders of the rights, such transfer being deemed to have been effected automatically and without valuable consideration even without the latter’s consent, and secondly in that a non-hunting landowner automatically became a member of the association. They asked the court to rule on that account that they were third parties in relation to the ACCAs concerned, that their land could no longer be included in the ACCAs’ hunting grounds and that the ACCAs could not rely on the transfer of their hunting rights. Lastly, they asked the court to declare that they had the right to put up on their property notices enjoining respect for their rights. 20.     On 13 December 1988 the Périgueux tribunal de grande instance gave judgment in the following terms: “[As regards the argument concerning Article 1 of Protocol No. 1:] Admittedly, the Law entails enforced deprivation of the right to hunt, which is one of the elements of the right of property, and obliges the owners of land subject to the ACCAs’ control to accept the presence on the land of third parties, namely hunters. Moreover, the Loi Verdeille appears to lay down special rules derogating from the principle laid down in Article 365 of the Countryside Code that ‘No one shall have the right to hunt on land belonging to another without the owner’s consent ...’. ... [Protocol No. 1] does not exclude restrictions on the right of property ... since Article   1, after stating the principle ‘No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law’, goes on to say: ‘The preceding provisions shall not, however, in any way impair the right of a State to enforce such laws as it deems necessary to control the use of property in accordance with the general interest or to secure the payment of taxes or other contributions or penalties.’ Most of the terms employed reflect the very broad nature of the restrictions which may be imposed on the right of property by signatory States in their domestic legislation. The Loi Verdeille, whose stated aim ... is to encourage, inter alia , an increase in game stocks, the destruction of vermin and the prevention of poaching, satisfies the ‘general interest’ criterion laid down in Article 1 of [Protocol No. 1]. Similarly, in attempting to ‘improve the technical organisation of hunting’ Parliament intended to permit democratic participation in hunting and to prevent landowners from reserving exclusive hunting rights over their land, thus restricting the right to use property, meaning in this case the right to hunt, in accordance with the ‘general interest’ referred to in [Protocol No. 1]. Consequently, with regard to the right of property, the provisions of sections 3 and 4 of the [Loi Verdeille] do not appear to be contrary to the Convention ... [As regards the arguments concerning Articles 11, 14, 9 and 10 of the Convention:] By providing that owners of landholdings of less than 20 hectares in area shall ipso facto be members of an ACCA, section 4 of the Loi Verdeille imposes what amounts to compulsory membership of an association whose aims, as in the present case, are not, for reasons of personal ethics, shared by the members, and indeed are vehemently opposed by them. Freedom of association must necessarily be interpreted as the ‘positive freedom’ for each individual to join an association of his or her choice, but it also means the negative right not to be compelled to join an association or trade union. To accept that Article 11 of [the Convention] guarantees only the ‘positive’ freedom of association would mean denying the very principle of that freedom, which is based on the free, voluntary choice of any person who wishes to join a group. Accordingly, by compelling certain landowners to join an ACCA, sections 3 and 4 of the Loi Verdeille violate the very substance of freedom of association, which must be regarded as one aspect of the freedom of conscience, opinion and expression which is likewise guaranteed by [the Convention], and lead not to a restriction of the freedom of association but to the negation of it. This infringement of the freedom of association appears all the more shocking because the right to object to the transfer of hunting rights is reserved by section 3 of the [Loi Verdeille] exclusively to the owners of properties exceeding 20 hectares in area in a single block. Thus the Loi Verdeille establishes discrimination between landowners on the basis of the amount of land they own, which is wholly incompatible with Article 14 of [the Convention], whereas the right not to join an ACCA should be uniformly granted to all landowners, whatever the size of their holdings. Nevertheless, it must be determined whether the interference with exercise of the freedom of association resulting from sections 3 and 4 of the Loi Verdeille can be justified under paragraph 2 of Article 11 of [the Convention]. As it is necessarily out of the question to regard the Loi Verdeille as ‘necessary in a democratic society’ in the interests of national security or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, or for the protection of health or morals, it can be considered compatible with [the Convention] only if it is accepted that the interference with exercise of the freedom of association is justified ‘for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others’, the only restriction in the present case provided for by the above-mentioned Article 11. It must therefore be determined whether the Loi Verdeille governing the organisation of ACCAs, whose object is ‘in general’ – or mainly, in the plaintiffs’ submission – ‘to improve the technical organisation of hunting so that the sport can be practised in a more satisfactory manner’, can prevail over the right not to join a hunters’ association. It must be noted in the first place that the Loi Verdeille does not appear to be absolutely necessary, given that it is applied in full in only twenty-eight French départements out of seventy-one, that it affects only nine thousand municipalities in France, including seventy-seven in Dordogne and that it is not the only legislation concerning the protection of game and compensation for damage caused by it. Secondly, the right to hunt is not considered one of the rights protected by [the Convention] (see, to that effect, Cass. Ch. Crim. 15.12.1987 – GP 1988, page 8). Consequently, mere protection of the exercise of a sport cannot prevail over the fundamental freedom to join or not to join an association. By compelling landowners to become members of ACCAs despite the ethical stance and personal conscience of those members, as in the present case, the Loi Verdeille inflicts on the persons concerned wrongs that are disproportionate to the aim pursued, namely the self-seeking pursuit of a leisure activity and the organisation of that activity. This Court therefore finds that sections 3 and 4 of the [Loi Verdeille] do not comply with the binding provisions of Articles 11, 9, 10 and 14 of [the Convention]. Consequently, the plaintiffs are now entitled to resign their membership of the ACCAs concerned and put up notices on their property bearing the text of their choice, in so far as this is consistent with public-order considerations and accepted moral standards.” 2.     The proceedings in the Bordeaux Court of Appeal 21.     On 23 December 1988 the Tourtoirac and Chourgnac-d’Ans ACCAs appealed to the Bordeaux Court of Appeal. On 18 April 1991 that court set aside all the provisions of the judgment of 13 December 1988, giving the following reasons: “It is certain that in seeking to promote the rational exercise of the right to hunt through the pooling of individual rights over properties smaller than the minimum areas laid down in regulations the [Loi Verdeille] derogates to a considerable extent from the principle laid down by the provisions of Article 365 of the Countryside Code that ‘No one shall have the right to hunt on land belonging to another without the consent of the owner or any person entitled through or under the owner’. By that means, however, the right to hunt, which is one element of the right of property, has been detached therefrom in order to ensure that it is exercised in accordance with the general interest, as defined in section 1, which provides that the object of [ACCAs], thus vested with public-authority prerogatives, shall be ‘to encourage, on their hunting grounds, an increase in game stocks, the destruction of vermin and the prevention of poaching, to instruct their members in how to hunt without interfering with property rights or crops and in general to improve the technical organisation of hunting so that the sport can be practised in a more satisfactory manner’. In asserting that Parliament only took into consideration ‘the self-seeking pursuit of a leisure activity’, and that this did not justify depriving some people of their fundamental rights, the court below evidently disregarded the object of the provisions referred to above, which concern both protection of the environment and wildlife against unregulated hunting, damage of all kinds or anarchic management and the organisation and regulation of the sport itself. Hunting, on account of the very large number of people who take part in it and its corresponding economic importance, must be subject, like any other popular leisure activity, to the constraints inherent in the normal operation of a public service which has in addition been recognised as such by the Constitutional Council and the Conseil d’Etat (CE 7/7/1978 – CE 5/7/1985). As such public-interest restrictions on exercise of the right of property are expressly provided for by [the Convention] in Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, the respondents Chassagnou, Petit and Lasgrezas may not validly plead a breach of that provision. Similarly, the pooling of small properties to form hunting grounds of sufficient size, which are accordingly capable of affording as many people as possible access to leisure activities which would otherwise inevitably remain the prerogative of landowners fortunate enough to possess a large estate, deprives of all foundation the complaint that the [Loi Verdeille] discriminates on the ground of property, in breach of Article 14 of [the Convention]. Lastly, while transfer of rights over their land to an ACCA gives the landowners concerned the status of automatic members, who are thus empowered to participate in the management of the municipal hunting grounds and to defend their interests, these are the only effects of the provisions in issue. Unlike persons whose membership is conditional, inter alia , on the payment of subscriptions, automatic members are under no obligation. Still less is there any provision for coercive measures or penalties against them; they are free to hunt or not to hunt, to scrutinise the way the ACCA conducts its business and participate in its work or refrain from any involvement in it. Whereas, moreover, the creation of ACCAs, and their scope, modus operandi and constitution are not only governed by legislation but also subject to prefectoral approval, and whereas on that account, and notwithstanding the associative form of these bodies, their public-interest role excludes any contractual relationship between their members, the automatic admission, free of charge, of landowners required to transfer their rights is only consideration for the partial alienation that they suffer, and constitutes in addition an undoubted attenuation of the measures restricting the right of property. It would appear that the members of the ROC, who are well aware that the general interest imposes certain restrictions on exercise of the right of property and that the [Loi Verdeille] does not in any way erect obstacles to freedom of association, are in fact claiming a right not to hunt, which is neither secured by domestic law nor guaranteed, any more than the right to hunt itself, by international treaties. ...” 3.     The proceedings in the Court of Cassation 22.     By a judgment of 16 March 1994 the Third Civil Division of the Court of Cassation dismissed an appeal on points of law by the applicants, giving the following reasons: “The provisions of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 ... recognise the right of a State to enforce such laws as it deems necessary to control the use of property in accordance with the general interest, and the Court of Appeal held, firstly, that the provisions of the [Loi Verdeille] had to do with protection of the environment and wildlife from unregulated hunting and damage of all kinds or anarchic management as much as with the organisation and regulation of hunting itself, and secondly that the pooling of small landholdings into hunting grounds of sufficient size, which would accordingly be able to afford as many people as possible access to leisure activities that would otherwise be bound to remain the prerogative of large landowners, deprived of all foundation the complaint of discrimination based on property. The argument on that point is therefore unfounded. ... Having noted that landowners who had transferred their rights to the association, who were automatic members, were under no obligation, that there was no provision for coercive measures or penalties against them, that these members could participate in the work of the association or refrain from doing so and that, as the public-service role of the association excluded any contractual relationship between its members, the automatic admission, free of charge, of landowners required by law to transfer their rights was only consideration for that transfer, the Court of Appeal, through those reasons alone provided the reasoning required by law for its decision on that subject.” B.     Mr Dumont, Mr A. Galland, Mr P. Galland, Mr E. Petit, Mr   M.   Petit and Mr Pinon 23.     Mr Dumont, Mr A. Galland, Mr P. Galland and Mr E. Petit (who died in June 1995) were born in 1924, 1926, 1936 and 1910 respectively; Mr   M.   Petit and Mr Pinon were born in 1947. They are all farmers living at Genouillac in the département of Creuse. They own landholdings there smaller than 60 hectares in a single block which are included in the hunting grounds of the ACCAs of La Cellette and Genouillac and describe themselves as opposed to hunting on ethical grounds. They too are members of the ASPAS. 1.     The proceedings in the Limoges Administrative Court 24.     In August and September 1987 each of the applicants requested the prefect of Creuse to remove their land from the hunting grounds of the ACCAs in question. They then applied to the Limoges Administrative Court for judicial review of the implicit refusals constituted by the prefect’s failure to reply, relying on the provisions of the Convention and those of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the ILO Convention of 1948 on freedom of association. 25.     On 28 June 1990 the Limoges Administrative Court dismissed the appeals in six identical judgments, giving the following reasons: “ As regards the complaint of an interference with the freedom of conscience ... No provision of the Law of 10 July 1994 ... infringes the right of persons opposed to hunting to express that belief or to manifest it, even in public. The mere fact that an ACCA has been set up does not impose on them in that respect any constraint, obligation or prohibition ... The freedom of opinion and expression of persons opposed to hunting is necessarily limited by protection of the rights and freedoms of hunters and those who share their convictions. As regards the complaint of an interference with the freedom of association ... Under such provisions citizens cannot be obliged to join an association against their will. However, since, under the very terms of the provisions relied on, freedom of association may be subject to restrictions which are deemed necessary on general-interest grounds, a citizen may be legally required to join an association whose object is to serve the general interest. Rational exercise of the right to hunt, as organised by the Law of 10 July 1964 is a general-interest ground, notwithstanding the fact that, regard being had to the manner of its implementation, the Law is not in practice applied to the whole of the national territory. The interference thus imposed on individual freedom of association is not excessive in the light of this general interest. As regards the complaint of a breach of equality before the law ... In any event, the provisions of the Law ... do not introduce discrimination on the ground of property. Although it lays down a minimum qualifying area for objections and withdrawals, the Law’s wording and its drafting history show that these limits were laid down in order to ensure the rational organisation of hunting. Such a general interest justifies a difference in treatment between landowners depending on the area of land they possess without this different treatment constituting a breach of equality before the law. As regards the complaint of an infringement of the right of property and the right of use ... Although the provisions cited above protect the right of property and the right to use one’s possessions, they do not prevent restrictions being imposed thereon in the general interest. As this Court has already remarked, the organisation of hunting serves a general interest which justifies such restrictions. The landowners whose land is included in the ACCA’s hunting grounds receive consideration for the loss of their exclusive right of use in the form of their membership of the ACCA and the services it provides. The fact that [the applicants] stated that they were not interested by such forms of consideration is not capable of rendering them insufficient. Lastly, although [the applicants] maintained that the Law of 10 July 1964 did not ensure fair and prior compensation, contrary to provisions having the status of constitutional law, it is not for the administrative courts to rule on the constitutionality of legislation. Accordingly such a complaint may not be validly raised before the Administrative Court.” 2.     The proceedings in the Conseil d’Etat 26.     Relying on Articles 9, 11 and 14 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, the applicants appealed to the Conseil d’Etat . 27.     By six identical judgments of 10 March 1985 the Conseil d’Etat dismissed their appeals on the following grounds: “... No provision of the [Loi Verdeille] obliges a non-hunter to take part in or approve of hunting. Consequently, and in any case, the appellant is not entitled to maintain that the Limoges Administrative Court wrongly held that the provisions of the [Loi Verdeille] were not contrary to the provisions of Article 9 of [the Convention]. ... The [Loi Verdeille] introduced municipal hunters’ associations approved by prefects with the aim of improving the technical organisation of hunting. With a view to enabling these bodies to perform the public-service role entrusted to them, various public-authority prerogatives were conferred on them. Consequently, and in any case, the provisions mentioned cannot be validly relied on to contest the lawfulness of the impugned decision taken by the prefect of Creuse. ... The fact that land belonging to the appellant was included in the hunting grounds of the [ACCA] and that owners of the hunting rights may come to hunt there has not deprived the appellant of his property but merely restricted his right to use it, in accordance with the rules laid down by the [Loi Verdeille], which are not disproportionate in relation to the general-interest objective pursued. The argument analysed above cannot therefore be upheld. ... The fact that the [Loi Verdeille] lays down different rules, depending on whether the landholdings concerned are less than or greater than 20 hectares in area, is due to the fact that the situations are different, regard being had to the objectives pursued by that Law, in particular the management of game stocks. These rules do not impose any of the forms of discrimination proscribed ... by Article 14 of [the Convention]” C.     Mrs Montion 28.     Mrs Montion was born in 1940 and works as a secretary. She lives at Sallebœuf in the département of Gironde. 29.     The applicant and her husband, who died in February 1994, were the owners of a landholding of 16 hectares which formed part of the hunting grounds of the Sallebœuf ACCA. As a member of the National Society for the Protection of Nature (“the SNPN”) and the ROC, Mr Montion unsuccessfully requested during the procedure to set up the ACCA that his land be designated an ACCA reserve. He then, with no more success, contested in the administrative courts the prefectoral decree of 7 December 1979 approving the association. 30.     Determined thenceforth to include his property in the SNPN’s network of voluntary nature reserves, he requested the prefect of Gironde, in a letter of 15 June 1987, firstly to order the Sallebœuf ACCA to remove him from the list of its members, and secondly to remove his land from the list of properties forming the association’s hunting grounds. On 29 June 1987 he wrote to the chairman of the ACCA making the same request. The prefect and the chairman of the ACCA refused in letters dated 25   June and 10 July 1987 respectively. 1.     The proceedings in the Bordeaux Administrative Court 31.     On 13 August 1987 Mr Montion and the SNPN asked the Bordeaux Administrative Court to set aside the decisions of 25 June and 10 July 1987 as being ultra vires . They essentially pleaded violation of Articles 9, 11 and 14 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1. 32.     By a judgment of 16 November 1989 the Bordeaux Administrative Court rejected these applications on the following grounds: “As to the decision of 10 July 1987 by the chairman of [the ACCA]: ... [Mr Montion’s application to the chairman of the Sallebœuf ACCA] must be regarded as a challenge to membership of an association constituted in accordance with the 1901 Act. Although, in order to achieve the objectives laid down by the [Loi Verdeille], [ACCAs] are vested with public-authority prerogatives, they nevertheless remain private-law bodies. The decisions they take outside the context of the exercise of those prerogatives, particularly with regard to granting or withdrawing membership, are private-law acts which are not subject to review by the administrative courts. Consequently, the submissions in the application ... directed against the refusal to remove Mr Montion from the list of members of the Sallebœuf ACCA have been brought before a court which has no jurisdiction to take cognisance of them and must be rejected. As to the decision of 25 June 1987 by the prefect of Gironde ...: ... Under the terms of Article 14 of [the Convention] The right to hunt or not to hunt is not one of the rights and freedoms whose enjoyment is protected by [the Convention]. Consequently, Mr Montion and [the SNPN] may not rely on the Convention in complaining of a breach of equality before the law. However, equality before the law is a general principle of law which the applicants may rely on. Section 3 of the [Loi Verdeille] reserves to the owners of land attaining an area of at least 20 hectares in a single block the right to object to the inclusion of the land in question in the hunting grounds of an ACCA. That limit, which has not been shown to constitute discrimination on the ground of property, was laid down in order to ensure the rational organisation of hunting through the pooling of hunting grounds of sufficient size and in order thus to guarantee that as many people as possible might exercise the right to hunt. That being so, it cannot be considered to impair equality before the law. While [the Convention] protects the right of property, it does not stand in the way of interferences with that right in accordance with the general interest. The organisation of hunting, on account of the very nature of that activity, the number of hunters and the social phenomenon it constitutes, is a matter of general interest which justifies an interference with the right of property. A landowner whose property is included in the ACCA’s hunting grounds receives consideration for the loss of his right to private use in the form of a right to use the land of the other landowners, not to mention the other services provided by the association, of which he automatically becomes a member. Furthermore, Mr Montion is not entitled to rely on his own refusal to accept this consideration in support of his assertion that he has not been fairly compensated for the loss of his right of use. ... According to Article 9 of [the Convention] The aim of these provisions is to protect rights and fundamental freedoms to which the right ‘not to hunt’ does not belong. In addition, they provide that the principles they set forth may be subject to restrictions inherent