f, after one or several judges had stepped down from the case, a further change of judge in that court was no longer possible; and (d) if, during the examination of the case, it became apparent that the case had been accepted for examination in violation of jurisdictional rules (Article 122).
12. The Russian Code of Commercial Procedure of 24 July 2002 provides that a commercial court should return a statement of claims to a plaintiff, if, when deciding whether to accept the action for adjudication, it establishes that the case does not fall within its jurisdiction (Article 129). If, however, a commercial court accepts the case for adjudication and subsequently discovers that it has no jurisdiction over the claim, it should discontinue the proceedings and issue a decision, explaining the reasons for discontinuation (Article 150). If the proceedings were discontinued, an individual is barred from bringing before a commercial court an action between the same parties on the same subject matter and based on the same grounds (Article 151 § 3).
THE LAW
I. Alleged violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention
13. The applicant complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention that the domestic courts had refused to examine the merits of her action against her husband, thus denying her access to court. Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, in so far as relevant, reads as follows:
"In the determination of his civil rights and obligations... everyone is entitled to a fair... hearing... by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law."
A. Submissions by the parties
14. In their sole line of argument, the Government submitted that the applicant had failed to exhaust domestic remedies. In particular, the Government stressed that the applicant could have lodged an appeal with the Belgorod Regional Court against the District Court decision of 13 August 2002 or could have challenged that District Court ruling by way of lodging a supervisory-review application. They further cited the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation as an alternative remedy which the applicant had failed to employ. The Government did not comment on the merits of the applicant's complaint.
15. The applicant maintained her complaints, arguing that the domestic courts were better placed to interpret the rules on the limitations to their judicial powers, including the jurisdiction clauses. She stressed that it had been open to the domestic courts, in case of a doubt or legal lacuna, to ask a higher-instance court or the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation to clarify the jurisdictional matter. While consenting to the transfer of her case to the Commercial Court, she had no reason to doubt the correctness of the District Court decision and she could not foresee the subsequent commercial courts' refusal to examine her action. Therefore, she did not appeal against the District Court decision of 13 August 2002 within the ten-day time-limit established by the RSFSR Code of Civil Procedure.
B. The Court's assessment
1. Admissibility
16. The Court notes that the Government listed three possible avenues of exhaustion which could have been employed by the applicant, in particular an appeal to the Belgorod Regional Court, a supervisory review application and a complaint to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. In this connection the Court will first reiterate the principles which govern the application of the rule on exhaustion of the domestic remedies.
(a) General principles
17. The Court reiterates that the rule of exhaustion of domestic remedies referred to in Article 35 of the Convention obliges those seeking to bring their case against the State before the Court to use first the remedies provided by the national le
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