22 MORICE v. FRANCE JUDGMENT A. The Chamber judgment 66. After noting that the applicant had not been in a position to request the judge’s withdrawal, as he had not been informed before the hearing of the change in the composition of the bench that was to examine his appeal on points of law and that the procedure was mainly written, the Chamber examined the complaint in terms of objective impartiality. It noted that Judge J.M., one of the judges who had sat on the bench of the Criminal Division of the Court of Cassation ruling on an appeal from Judge M. and from the applicant stemming from a dispute between them, had, nine years earlier, publicly expressed his support for and trust in Judge M. in connection with another case in which she had been the investigating judge and the applicant had been acting for a civil party. Having regard to the facts, there was clear opposition between the applicant and Judge M., both in the case for which she had received the support of Judge J.M. and in the case in which J.M. was sitting as a judge of the Court of Cassation. Moreover, J.M.’s support had been expressed in an official and quite general context, at the general meeting of the judges of the Paris tribunal de grande instance. The Chamber found that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1, as serious doubts could be raised as to the impartiality of the Court of Cassation and the applicant’s fears in that connection could be regarded as objectively justified. B. The parties’ submissions before the Grand Chamber 1. The applicant 67. The applicant recognised that it was not established that Judge J.M. had displayed any personal bias against him, but argued that regardless of his personal conduct, his very presence on the bench created a situation which rendered his fears objectively justified and legitimate. In his submission, the fact that J.M. had sat on the bench of the Criminal Division of the Court of Cassation sufficed in itself to show that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. Judge J.M. had in the past expressed his support for Judge M., when the latter was conducting the judicial investigation in the “Scientology” case, in response to criticisms of her professional conduct from the civil parties, whose representatives included the applicant, and by the public prosecutor. The applicant pointed out that Judge M. had ultimately been taken off the case at his request and that on 5 January 2000 the French State had been found liable for failings in the public justice system. 68. He argued that he had not been in a position to seek the withdrawal of Judge J.M., as he had not known, and could not reasonably have known, that this judge was going to sit in his case: the report of the reporting judge, the online workflow for the case and the notices to the lawyers had all given