NEWSLETTER-2020-metin

426 NEWSLETTER 2020 French Courts Denied Exequatur to a Turkish Judgment* Att. Ayca Bengü Köksal “ All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. ” Leo Tolstoy Introduction Impartiality and independence of the person who declares the verdict is key to a fair trial. If a judge does not respect the fundamental principle of fair trial, then his or her decision may suffer the same consequences of disrespect and disregard. In other words, a court deci- sion may be set aside or denied enforcement where a judge lacked independence and impartiality required for a fair hearing. The Paris Court ofAppeal readdressed in one of its latest decisions this legal duty vested upon judges, which will be further discussed below. However, before examining this noteworthy decision, it may be of help to remind the reader of what impartiality and independence stand for. Obligations of impartiality and independence in judges mostly arise from state constitutions and multinational conventions. Impartiality means that the decision maker will not favor one party more than the other, while independence requires that the decision maker remain free from the control of either party 1 . The recent decision rendered by the higher court of Paris may shed some light on the standard of impartiality. * Article of December, 2020 1 For Caron, D. & Caplan, L .; The UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules: A Commen- tary, 3rd edition, 2013, p. 213. please refer to Oglinda , Bazil : Key Criteria in Appointment of Arbitrators in International Arbitration, Judicial Tribune, Volume 5, Issue 2, December 2015, p. 125.