this concept includes all movables and immovable, corporeal and incorporeal
elements and any other intangible object capable of having value.
In the instant case, the Applicant states that the judgment sum awarded to it by the
national court amounts to property and that the failure of the Respondent to pay the
judgment debt tantamount to an infringement of his right to property in the sum of
money being the judgment debt contrary to Article 14 of the ACHPR and Articles
11, 20 (a) and 21 (b) of the Respondent’s Constitution.
Article 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights provides:
“The right to property shall be guaranteed. It may only be encroached upon in the
interest of public need or in the general interest of the community and in accordance
with the provisions of appropriate laws”.
In Broniowski v Poland (2005) 40 EHRR 21, the Strasbourg Court explained that
“The concept of “possessions” in the first part of Art.1 of Protocol No.1 has an
autonomous meaning which is not limited to the ownership of material goods and is
independent from the formal classification in domestic law. In the same way as
material goods, certain other rights and interests constituting assets can also be
regarded as “property rights” and thus as “possessions” for the purposes of this
provision. In each case the issue that needs to be examined is whether the
circumstances of the case, considered as a whole, conferred on the Applicant title to
a substantive interest protected by Art. 1 of Protocol No. 1
Now the question to be considered by the Court is, when does the property right of
the Applicant become absolute? Is it at the point of delivery of judgment by the lower
court, or after the determination of an Appeal to the Higher Court?
The Respondent contends that the said decision of the Circuit Court awarding the
judgment sum (property) which is the subject matter before this Court was
fraudulent, not heard on the merits. More so, the Respondent further argued that it
has appealed against the said decision of the Circuit Court and therefore the
Applicant is estopped from claiming ownership of the said property pending the
outcome of the Appeal.
A key feature of post-judgment proceedings is the requirement for a judgment debtor
that has appealed a judgment to file an application for a stay of execution to stop the
enforcement and execution of the judgment pending the appeal.
In the instant case, none of the parties have raised this issue and the Applicant is not
challenging the fact that there is a pending appeal before the Supreme Court of
Liberia. Where there is an application for a stay or there is an Appeal lying before a
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