34 JAMES AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUGDMENT III. ARTICLE 6 PARA. 1 (art. 6-1) OF THE CONVENTION 79. The applicants also alleged violation of Article 6 para. 1 (art. 6-1) of the Convention, which provides: "In the determination of his civil rights and obligations ..., everyone is entitled to a ... hearing ... by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. ..." 80. This complaint was new in that it was not pleaded before the Commission. It does have, however, an evident connection with the complaints examined by the Commission. Indeed, it recurs in another form in the arguments advanced under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 and Articles 13 and 14 (P1-1, art. 13, art. 14) of the Convention (see paragraphs 68 and 76 above and paragraph 83 below); it concerns the very same facts which were the subject of the application declared admissible by the Commission and no preliminary objection going to the admissibility of this complaint was raised either by the Commission or by the Government. The Court thus considers that it has jurisdiction to entertain the matter (see, amongst others and mutatis mutandis, the Delcourt judgment of 17 January 1970, Series A no. 11, p. 20, para. 40, the Bönisch judgment of 6 May 1985, Series A no. 92, p. 17, para. 37). 81. The applicants complained that under the scheme set up by the leasehold reform legislation landlords threatened with loss of their property have no means of challenging the tenants’ right to enfranchise, once only the criteria laid down in the legislation are satisfied. In their submission, the fact that no question of individual merits, no question of hardship, is susceptible of review by any court or tribunal gives rise to a breach of Article 6 para. 1 (art. 6-1). Article 6 para. 1 (art. 6-1) extends only to "contestations" (disputes) over (civil) "rights and obligations" which can be said, at least on arguable grounds, to be recognised under domestic law; it does not in itself guarantee any particular content for (civil) "rights and obligations" in the substantive law of the Contracting States. Confirmation of this analysis is to be found in the fact that Article 6 para. 1 (art. 6-1) does not require that there be a national court with competence to invalidate or override national law. In the present case, the immediate consequence of the British legislation in issue is that the landlord cannot challenge the tenant’s entitlement to acquire the property compulsorily in so far as the acquisition is in conformity with the legislation. In the case of Sporrong and Lönnroth, upon which the applicants placed heavy reliance, the Court found Article 6 para. 1 (art. 6-1), firstly, to be applicable because there existed an arguable grievance of non-compliance with Swedish law (Series A no. 52, p. 30, para. 81) and, secondly, to have been violated because of the lack of a remedy whereby that grievance could be brought before "a tribunal competent to determine all the aspects of the matter" (in French: "un tribunal jouissant de la plénitude de juridiction")

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