The Effects of a Final Judgment Under Turkish Law
Authors: Atty. Ayça Berker & Atty. Deniz Nalbant
I. Introduction
The provisions regarding a “final judgment” and its effects are regulated under Articles 297 and 303 of the Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100[1] of Türkiye. In this article, the legislation governing the topic of “final judgment” will be presented, and the effects of said final judgment will be explained. Following this, the concept of “forgotten provisions” will be elaborated, and the relevant case law shall be presented.
A final judgment can be defined as the legally recognized state of a legal situation. This principle holds validity across all areas of law; therefore, legislative and executive bodies, as well as administrative and judicial authorities, are obliged to comply with a decision once it has been deemed as final in compliance with the legislation below.
The relevant articles of the aforementioned Code regarding a final judgment are as follows;
Article 297 – Scope of the Provision
(2) In the conclusion part of the judgment, without repeating any words belonging to the grounds, the judgment given on each of the claims, the obligations imposed on the parties and the rights recognized must be shown under the sequence number; clearly, in a way that does not arouse doubt and hesitation.
At the end of a proceeding, the court must decide on each claim. This is because the final judgment only takes effect on claims that have been decided. Such is stated in Article 303 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Türkiye
Article 303 – Final Judgment
(1) In order for a judgment which has become final in a formal sense in one action to constitute a final judgment in a substantive sense in another action, the parties, causes of action and the conclusion of the first action and the conclusion of the second action must be the same.
(2) A judgment shall constitute a final judgment only with respect to those claims asserted in the action or counterclaim which have been adjudicated.
II. The Effects of a Final Judgment
A final judgment has a twofold effect: formal validity and substantive validity.
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Final Judgment in the Formal Sense:
This could be defined as the exhaustion of the possibility to apply for legal remedies. It should be noted that a final judgment, to have validity in a formal sense, is considered as a precondition for a final judgment to be valid in a substantive sense.
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Final Judgment in the Substantive Sense:
In order for a formally valid final judgment in one case to constitute a substantively valid final judgment in another case, the parties, the causes of action, and the conclusion of the first case and the conclusion of the second case must be the same.
III. Forgotten Claims
In a case where a judgment has been rendered regarding one or more of the claims presented, the exclusion of other claims from the judgment does not imply that those claims have been implicitly rejected. In other words, no res judicata effect arises concerning the forgotten claims. If the court complies with the reversal decision, it is possible to rule on these forgotten claims in the new decision.
This situation is expressed in the following decision of the Court of Cassation of Türkiye[2];
Court of Cassation 21th Civil Chamber, M., 2015/22343, Decision No. 2016/1948, Dated 15.02.2016
“The content of the judgment is partly in favor of the main claim. It is clear that the interest claim has been forgotten. Therefore, there is no judgment subject to a finality assessment. Consequently, the previous decision does not establish res judicata concerning interest.”
Therefore, a decision must have been made in the judgment regarding all claims. Otherwise, no res judicata would arise concerning that claim.
Footnotes
[1] The relevant law can be found here: https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/MevzuatMetin/1.5.6100.pdf
[2] Yargıtay 21. HD, 2015/22343 E., 2016/1948 K. decision dated 15.02.2016. <Accessed via www.lexpera.com.tr >
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