Key facts of the case - Both applicants are Algerian nationals who married in Algeria. The husband obtained the divorce before a Court in Algeria in 1995. In 1996 he asked to the Court of Colmar (TGI) to make this judgment enforceable in France. The TGI and the court of appeal of Colmar have both rejected the husband’s appeal. He argues before the Court of cassation that by having ignored whether the financial compensation can ensure the equality among the spouses during the divorce process, the judgment was not legally founded with regard to the European Convention of Human rights and the French-Algerian Convention of 1964.

Reasoning of the court - The Court of cassation held that the Algerian court only observes the unilateral repudiation by the husband without giving effect to the possible opposition of the wife, leaving to the French jurisdiction the sole possibility to arrange the financial aspect of the divorce. Thus, it is contrary to the equality of rights of the spouses during the marriage dissolution, entrenched in the additional Protocol n. 7 to the European Convention of Human Rights (Article 5). It is also contrary to the international ordre public, which lies in the French-Algerian Convention of 1964. The husband’s appeal is accordingly rejected.