YOUNG, JAMES AND WEBSTER v. THE UNITED KINGDOM (ARTICLE 50) - 7601/76;7806/77

The European Court of Human Rights, sitting, in accordance with Article 43 (art. 43) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ("the Convention") and the relevant provisions of the Rules of Court * , as a Chamber composed of the following judges:

Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date, on the application in the present case of Article 50 (art. 50) of the Convention:

�The case of Young, James and Webster was referred to the Court by the European Commission of Human Rights ("the Commission") in May 1980. The case originated in two applications against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland lodged with the Commission in 1976 and 1977 by Mr. Ian McLean Young, Mr. No�l Henry James and Mr. Ronald Roger Webster.

�On 25 November 1980, the Chamber constituted to examine the case relinquished jurisdiction in favour of the plenary Court (Rule 48 of the Rules of Court). By a judgment of 13 August 1981, the latter held, inter alia, that the applicants� dismissal from employment for failure to join a specified trade union had entailed a breach of Article 11 (art. 11) of the Convention (Series A no. 44, point 1 of the operative provisions and paragraphs 50-65 of the reasons, pp. 27 and 21-26).

The only outstanding matter to be settled is the question of the application of Article 50 (art. 50) in the present case. Accordingly, as regards the facts, the Court will confine itself here to giving the pertinent details; for further particulars, reference should be made to paragraphs 12 to 44 of the above-mentioned judgment (ibid., pp. 8-18).