24 GORZELIK AND OTHERS v. POLAND JUDGMENT entity submitting the declaration is the electoral committee of one or more registered national minority organisations.” E. The Civil Code 44. Article 5 of the Civil Code reads: “No one shall exercise any right held by him or her in a manner contrary to its socio-economic purpose or to the principles of co-existence with others [zasady współżycia społecznego]. No act or omission [matching this description] on the part of the holder of the right shall be deemed to be the exercise of the right and be protected [by law].” The relevant part of Article 58 provides: “1. A[ny] act which is contrary to the law or aimed at evading the law shall be null and void, unless a statutory provision provides for other legal effects, such as the replacement of the void elements of such an act by elements provided for by statute. 2. Any act which is contrary to the principles of co-existence with others shall be null and void.” F. The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities 45. At the material time Poland was a signatory to the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (European Treaty Series no. 157); the date of signature was 1 February 1995. Poland ratified the Framework Convention on 20 December 2000. It came into force in respect of Poland on 1 April 2001. 46. The Framework Convention contains no definition of the notion of “national minority”. Its explanatory report mentions that it was decided to adopt a pragmatic approach, based on the recognition that at that stage it was impossible to arrive at a definition capable of mustering the general support of all Council of Europe member States. 47. Poland, at the time of the deposit of the instrument of ratification, made the following declaration: “Taking into consideration the fact that the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities contains no definition of the national minorities notion, the Republic of Poland declares that it understands this term as national minorities residing within the territory of the Republic of Poland at the same time whose members are Polish citizens.” THE LAW ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 11 OF THE CONVENTION