L'applicabilité de l'article 6 de la Convention Européenne des Droits de l'Homme aux procédures contraventionnelles

In France, contraventional law is part of criminal law, broadly subject to its legal regime. In Romania, contraventional law is a hybrid legal branch, situated at the crossroads between substantive criminal law and civil procedural law. This mixed nature has led to issues in its application, especially in reference to the well-known decision handed down by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Anghel v. Romania. However, since then, the Court's jurisprudence has changed significantly. This paper addresses the issues of contraventional law in Romania and France, and then examines these systems from the perspective of the European Court of Human Rights. The winding path of contraventional law mirrors the evolution and regression of the protection of the right to a fair trial in criminal matters, an issue that will be discussed in the final part of the text.