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Judges’ Freedom of Expression and the Limits of Disciplinary Power: The ECtHR Judgment in Savvas v. Greece

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The ECtHR ruled in favor of a Greek judge in a case involving disciplinary proceedings for improper conduct on and off duty ( Savvas v. Greece ). The judge had served extrajudicial notices ( ex-officio legal notices) on three senior colleagues via a court bailiff, requesting that they retract negative comments made against him during a promotion procedure. He was subsequently placed on a three-month suspension. Invoking Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights, A. Savvas argued that he exercised his legal right to express his opinion in the extrajudicial notices, to defend himself against unfounded accusations, to protect his interests in the context of the promotion process, and to safeguard the public interest by ensuring a fair judicial promotion procedure. The ECtHR found a violation of Article 10 of the ECHR and awarded compensation for pecuniary damage: €5,211.15, non-pecuniary damage: €6,000, and costs and expenses: €1,000. In its judgme...
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Legal Professional Privilege in the Digital Age: Recent Case Law of the ECtHR and the Core Principles That Should Govern Searches

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By Giorgos Kazoleas, Lawyer The protection of legal professional privilege is a fundamental pillar of the right to respect for private life and correspondence (Article 8 of the ECHR), as well as of the right to a fair trial (Article 6 of the ECHR). In recent years, as the use of digital means in the practice of law has become firmly established, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has delivered important judgments focusing mainly on the digital age, searches of law offices and the surveillance of communications between lawyer and client. Set out below is a selection of ECtHR case law on such matters: Seizure and retention of vast amounts of lawyers' digital data In Kırdök and Others v. Turkey (3 December 2019), the national authorities seized all the hard drives and digital files of a law office in the course of an investigation, without distinguishing between the documents relating to the case and the confidential files of other clients. The Court found a violat...
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The rules of UEFA on ‘homegrown players’ could be contrary to EU law (ECJ)

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According to the Judgment of the Court of Justice (21.12.2023) in Case C-680/21 (Royal Antwerp Football Club),  the rules of UEFA and the Belgian football association on ‘homegrown players’ could be contrary to EU law. A footballer and a Belgian club are challenging UEFA’s rules and those of the Belgian football association that require a minimum number of ‘home-grown players’ to be included in teams. The Court holds that that requirement could infringe both competition rules and the free movement of workers. However, the national court in charge of the case will have to verify whether or not that is the case. UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) requires football clubs to have a minimum number of ‘home-grown players’ in their teams. The Belgian football association (URBSFA) has adopted similar rules. In both cases, those rules define ‘home-grown players’ as players who are trained at national level, although UEFA’s rules also refer to players trained within a given club....
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The Title Deed Issue in Cyprus and the "Trapped Buyers" Phenomenon

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Article By Giorgos Kazoleas, Lawyer LL.M.  The issue of title deeds in Cyprus and the phenomenon of "trapped buyers" constitutes one of the greatest legal, financial, and social peculiarities of Cypriot real estate law. The Cypriot Peculiarity: Sale Without a Title Deed Under Cypriot law (pursuant to the Immovable Property (Tenure, Registration and Valuation) Law, Cap. 224), legal ownership of a property is transferred and acquired solely upon its registration with the Department of Lands and Surveys and the issuance of the relevant Certificate of Registration (Title Deed). However, a major peculiarity exists: it is entirely legal to sell a property that does not (yet) possess a separate title deed. This typically occurs in new developments (apartment buildings or residential complexes), where the title deed for the plot of land belongs to the developer, but the separate title deeds for each apartment or house can take years to be issued due to bureaucracy, pending ap...
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Corporate Personality and Damages for Loss Caused to a Third Party Company: Forthwell v Pontegadea (UKSC)

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With its recent decision in Forthwell Ltd v Pontegadea UK Ltd [2026] UKSC 33, handed down on September 17, 2026, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom considered a particularly important issue of contract law: whether a contracting party can claim damages for loss suffered by a third party, and specifically by a company within the same group. The case concerned the historic Rogano restaurant in Glasgow. Forthwell, the tenant of the property, had granted the use of the premises to its wholly-owned subsidiary, Lynnet Leisure, which operated the restaurant. Following severe flood and fire damage, the restaurant was unable to reopen, and Lynnet suffered a significant loss of profits. Forthwell sought to recover these losses from the landlord. The Supreme Court dismissed the claim. It affirmed the general rule that a contracting party may recover damages for its own loss and not, in principle, for loss suffered by a third party. The Court declined to create a new, broader exception that ...
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Ombudsman inquiry on Commission President’s text messages is a wake-up call for EU

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The European Ombudsman inquiry into the Commission’s handling of a request for text messages between its President and the CEO of a pharmaceutical company is a wake-up call for all EU institutions about ensuring accountability in an era of instant messaging. One year after the initial request by a journalist, the Commission has still not clarified whether messages reported to concern major vaccine procurement deals exist and whether the public is entitled to see them. The Ombudsman had asked the Commission, in a finding of maladministration in January, to conduct a more thorough search for the text messages. The Commission’s recent response failed to say whether it had looked directly and correctly for the text messages and if not, why not. While the response recognised that work-related text messages can be EU documents, it reiterated that the Commission’s internal policy is, in effect, not to register text messages. The Ombudsman has closed  the inquiry  and upheld...
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Balancing Crime Control and Ne Bis In Idem: ECtHR Finds No Violation in Successive Proceedings

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The case concerned the right not to be tried or punished twice – a right protected by Article 4 of Protocol No. 7 and known as the “ne bis in idem” principle. In its Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Jesus Pinhal v. Portugal (applications nos. 48047/15 and 2276/20) the European Court of Human Rights held, by fifteen votes to two, that there had been no violation of Article 4 of Protocol No. 7 (right not to be tried or punished twice) to the European Convention on Human Rights. The applicant had been a member and Vice-Chairman of the Banco Comercial Português bank (“the BCP”). Following a complaint, the Lisbon public prosecutor’s office, the Securities Market Commission (CMVM) and the Portuguese central bank (BdP) initiated proceedings against him for various criminal and administrative offences. Before the Court, the applicant argued that he had been tried three times for the same acts. The Court used this occasion to clarify the criteria to be applied in striking a fair bala...
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