You know what's best about the ECtHR Xero Flor case? It's how it shows that the rule of law affects us all. By now you all know that the applicant in the case was a company producing rolling turf and grass, but how did the case come to be? It all started with these cuties:
(1/8)
(1/8)
A group of boars wandered out of a forest in western Poland and did what boars do best: dug their snouts into a field in search of food. But that was no ordinary field, but a field of rolled turf owned by Xero Flor sp. z o.o. (2/8)
In Poland, the state is liable for damage caused by wild game from public forests. Xero Flor sought compensation for having their rolled grass messed up by boars, but in doing so they discovered that secondary legislation - a ministerial decree - puts them in a bad spot. (3/8)
Long story short, the compensation for damage caused by wild animals to a field of rolled turf was significantly lower than for damage done to a regular farming field of wheat or corn. Xero Flor didn't take that fact lightly and fought all the way through Polish courts. (4/8)
They lost, and in April 2015 - back when the Polish Constitutional Tribunal was still a fully functional, independent body - they filled an individual constitutional complaint. But that complaint was dismissed two years (!) later by a panel that included a dubious judge. (5/8)
The rest is hardcore constitutional law, human rights, Strasbourg and all the stuff academia loves. But the beginning of this story - that's a group of boars and a grumpy entrepreneur seeking a routine compensation for something that happens frequently in Poland. (6/8)
At the origin, it's a human story. Rule of law cases, especially the backsliding ones, are frequently about top courts, activist judges, publishing of judgments and relationships between legal orders. Things that seem distant and irrelevant for the person on the street. (7/8)
Sure - we experts can identify the long link between the composition of the constitutional court and individual rights. But it's hard to explain that link without a human story. Or, in this case, a boar story. (8/8)
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