A fair and lawful decision?

I have repeatedly taken part in court proceedings that ended in decisions which were lawful but not fair, or the other way round.

If we turn to legislation, for example to civil procedure, then under Article 2 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine the task of civil proceedings is, among other things, the fair hearing and resolution of civil cases.

I have often acted for clients whose legal position was weak from a strictly legal point of view, yet fair in substance: the relief they sought matched the harm caused by the actions of the other side. In most of those cases we managed to obtain decisions that my clients considered fair.

At the same time, yesterday at a hearing with a client in the court of appeal we had entirely lawful grounds for a positive decision. But the panel of judges delivered the decision that they considered fair. The result: a fair decision in the opinion of the appellate panel and of our opponents, unlawful and unfair from our side. The proceedings continue, and the cassation instance lies ahead.