Challenge of Trial Within a Reasonable Time in Civil Law Cases: Case of Kosovo in Light of ECtHR Jurisprudence

Kosovo declared independence on 17 February 2008, and on 9 April 2008, it adopted the Constitution as the highest legal and political act of the Republic. Since then, many laws and sub laws have been adopted and entered into force, regulating issues from various spheres of social life. The Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo provides for the direct application of several international agreements and instruments in the territory of the Republic of Kosovo and which have priority, in case of conflict, over the provisions of laws and other acts of public institutions. Among them is the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols. Kosovo has undertaken to provide its citizens with a fair and reasonable trial for all civil law cases that arise before the courts of Kosovo, also through the Rule of Law Strategy 2021–2026 published by the Ministry of Justice. However, in this regard, Kosovo has not issued a special legal or sub-legal act regarding the right to a fair and reasonable trial for civil cases. The authors of this article advance the following hypothesis: The excessive duration of the trial of civil cases constitutes a violation of the right to a fair and in a reasonable trial. The methods that were used during the drafting of this article are: the analysis method (of legislation, case law and legal theory), normative, empirical methods with national and case law of the ECtHR.