The Court for Trusts and Fiduciary Relations

Appeal

It is possible to lodge an appeal both against decrees and orders issued in the context of non contentious proceedings and against judgements pertaining to contentious proceedings.

Since these two procedures are partly different, we will examine separately the appeal in the context of non contentious proceedings and the one pertaining to contentious proceedings.

APPEAL - CONTENTIOUS PROCEEDINGS

Before lodging an appeal, it is necessary to request the authorisation of the President of the Court.

The party interested in lodging an appeal, i.e. the unsuccessful party, shall transmit, within 14 days from the date of publication of the judgement, an application to the Registry of the Court, addressed to the President, to obtain the authorisation to lodge an appeal. The transmission shall be made by means of an e-mail to the Registry of the Court (cancelleria.cortefiducia@istituzioni.sm), to which the document containing the application is attached (in .doc format). The subject field of the e-mail shall contain the following: the case number, the name of the party represented and the keyword "application". Once the Registry has received the attachment, it performs the formal verifications and enters the attachment in the electronic case-file.

Once the President has received the application from the Registry, he decides whether to grant or refuse the authorisation to lodge the appeal. The President adopts a reasoned decision. The authorisation is granted only if the President establishes the lack of certainty of the legal issues decided in the judgement, or when he deems that the legal issues raised by the applicant as grounds for the appeal are relevant.

In the event of rejection of the authorisation to lodge an appeal, the party concerned, within 14 days from the date of rejection, may ask the Judge of Appeal to admit the appeal in any case.

Once the party concerned has obtained the authorisation to lodge an appeal, what are the next steps?

1. Application to the Judge of Appeal. Within 14 days from the granting of the authorisation, the party concerned shall lodge the appeal before the Judge of Appeal. The appeal is notified to the parties at their domicile, or - in case of previous appearance before the Court - at the office of the San Marino lawyer.

2. Filing of the reasons to lodge an appeal. Within 14 days from the lodging of the appeal, the applicant shall file the reasons for the appeal, failing which the proceedings shall stop.

3. Consilium sapientis. Within 14 days from the filing of the reasons, the Judge of Appeal requests the Consilium Sapientis. The judge identifies the sapiens or sapientes by consulting the register referred to in Article 7, paragraph 4 of Qualified Law no. 1 of 26 January 2012. The Judge shall appoint only one sapiens if the judgement appealed against is issued by the Court as a single-judge body; or a panel composed of three sapientes if the judgement appealed against is issued by a panel or by the Court in its full composition. The Judge of Appeal shall comply with the principles of law expressed by the consilium sapientis.

4. Conclusion. The proceedings shall be completed within 90 days from the date on which they were initiated. The time required to obtain the consilium sapientis is excluded from this time-limit. The judgement rendered by the Judge of Appeal is final, since it is not possible to further appeal against this judgement.

APPEAL - NON CONTENTIOUS PROCEEDINGS

If the applicant does not agree with the contents of the decree or of the order issued at the conclusion of the non contentious proceedings, he/she must request the authorisation to lodge an appeal to the President of the Court.

How to request the authorisation

The procedure is identical to that already described for contentious proceedings.

The party interested in lodging an appeal shall transmit, within 14 days from the date of publication of the judgement, an application to the Registry of the Court, addressed to the President, to obtain the authorisation to lodge an appeal. The transmission is made by means of an e-mail to the Registry of the Court (cancelleria.cortefiducia@istituzioni.sm), to which the document containing the application is attached. The subject field of the e-mail shall contain the following: the case number, the name of the party represented and the keyword "application". Once the Registry has received the attachment, it performs the formal verifications and enters the attachment in the electronic case-file.

Once the President has received the application from the Registry, he decides whether to grant or refuse the authorisation to lodge the appeal. The President adopts a reasoned decision. The authorisation is granted only if the President establishes the lack of certainty of the legal issues decided in the judgement, or when he deems that the legal issues deducted by the applicant as grounds for the appeal are relevant.

In the event of rejection of the authorisation to lodge an appeal, the unsuccessful party, within 14 days from the date of rejection, may ask the Judge of Appeal to admit the appeal in any case.

What happens once the authorisation is granted?

If the President grants the authorisation to lodge an appeal, he identifies a panel composed of three Judges to deliver the appeal judgement.

The fourth paragraph of Art. 12 of Delegated Decree no. 128/2013 reads that: “The provisions on first instance judgement before the Court shall apply, with appropriate adjustments, to such proceedings”.