Chapter 7 • The Right to a Fair Trial: Part II – From Trial to Final Judgement decision of the lower authority.14 If in these circumstances a Constitutional Court can examine only points of law, it does not fulfil the requirements of article 6(1), and, similarly, if the Administrative Court has no power to quash the decision “on questions of fact and law”, it cannot, in the view of the European Court, be considered as a “tribunal” for the purposes of article 6(1).15 In numerous other cases which will not be examined here, the European Court has also found a violation of the right of access to courts to have one’s civil rights and obligations, including property rights and the right of access to one’s child, determined.16 Lastly, it should briefly be recalled here that the right of access to the courts also means, for instance, that men and women must have equal access thereto and that this equality might require the granting of legal aid for the purposes of securing the effectiveness of this right (cf. case-law under art. 14(1) of the International Covenant and art. 6(1) of the European Convention as explained in Chapter 6).17 The right of access to the courts means that no one must be hindered either by law, administrative procedures or material resources from addressing himself or herself to a court or tribunal for the purpose of vindicating his or her rights. Women and men are entitled to equal access to the courts. 3.2.2 The right to equality of arms and adversarial proceedings The notion of equality of arms is an essential feature of a fair trial, and is an expression of the balance that must exist “between the prosecution and the defence”.18 With regard to the concept of “fair trial” in article 14(1) of the International Covenant, the Human Rights Committee has explained that it “must be interpreted as requiring a number of conditions, such as equality of arms and respect for the principle of adversary proceedings”, and that “these requirements are not respected where ... the accused is denied the opportunity personally to attend the proceedings, or where he is unable properly to instruct his legal representative”. In particular, “the principle of equality of arms is not respected where the accused is not served a properly motivated indictment”.19 ***** 14 Ibid., p. 41, para. 43; emphasis added. 15 Ibid., loc. cit. 16 Eur. Court HR, Case of Allan Jacobsson v. Sweden, judgment of 25 October 1989, Series A. No. 163, pp. 19-21, paras. 65-77 (property right); and Eur. Court HR, Case of Eriksson v. Sweden, judgment of 22 June 1989, Series A, No. 156, pp. 27-29, paras. 73-82 and p. 31, paras. 90-92 (question of access to children) . 17 See also Chapter 15 of this Manual with regard to the availability of effective domestic remedies for violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. 18 Communication No. 307/1988, J. Campbell v. Jamaica (Views adopted on 24 March 1993), in UN doc. GAOR, A/48/40 (vol. II), p. 44, para. 6.4. 19 Communication No. 289/1988, D. Wolf v. Panama (Views adopted on 26 March 1992), in UN doc. GAOR, A/47/40, pp. 289-290, para. 6.6. 258 Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers