Chapter 7 • The Right to a Fair Trial: Part II – From Trial to Final Judgement tradition” of many States of the Council of Europe in making public the decisions of some or all of their courts; such traditions may thus not necessarily imply the reading out loud of the judgements concerned, but can consist in depositing the judgements in a registry accessible to the public.54 The European Court considers, therefore, “that in each case the form of publicity to be given to the ‘judgement’ under the domestic law of the respondent State must be assessed in the light of the special features of the proceedings in question and by reference to the object and purpose” of article 6(1).55 The case of Pretto and Others In the case of Pretto and Others, where the Italian Court of Cassation had made a ruling in civil proceedings which was not pronounced publicly, the European Court took account “of the entirety of the proceedings conducted in the Italian legal order and of the Court of Cassation’s role therein”, noting that its role was “confined to reviewing in law the decision of the Venice Court of Appeal”. The Court of Cassation “could not itself determine the suit, but only, on this occasion, dismiss the applicant’s appeal or, alternatively, quash the previous judgment and refer the case back to the trial court”.56 After holding public hearings, the Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal, whereupon the Appeal Court’s judgement became final; the consequences for the applicant remained unchanged. Although the judgement dismissing the appeal on points of law was not delivered in open court, anyone could consult and obtain a copy thereof on application to the court registry.57 In the opinion of the European Court the object of article 6(1) to ensure public scrutiny of the Judiciary was “at any rate as regards cassation proceedings, no less achieved by a deposit in the court registry, making the full text of the judgement available to everyone, than by a reading in open court of a decision dismissing an appeal or quashing a previous judgement, such reading sometimes being limited to the operative provisions”.58 It followed that the absence of public pronouncement of the Court of Cassation’s judgement did not constitute a breach of article 6(1) of the Convention.59 54 Ibid., p. 12, paras. 25-26. 55 Ibid., para. 26. 56 Ibid., pp. 12-13, para. 27. 57 Ibid., para. 27 at p. 13. 58 Ibid., loc. cit. 59 Ibid., p. 13, para. 28. See also Eur. Court HR, Sutter case v. Switzerland, judgment of 22 February 1984, Series A, No. 74, pp. 14-15, paras. 31-34. 266 Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers