The Constitutional Court’s decision dated 4 December 2024, numbered 2023/182 E., 2024/203 K. (the “Decision”), was published in the Official Gazette dated 30 January 2025 and numbered 32798. The Constitutional Court annulled the provision regulating that the monetary thresholds for appeals and cassation applications are to be determined based on the thresholds in effect on the date of the judgment.
As a result of two first instance courts’ and a regional court’s initiatives, an application was filed with the Constitutional Court alleging that the provisions of Additional Article 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100, which determine the effective date of the monetary thresholds applicable to appeals and cassation applications, violate the principles of the rule of law, equality, and proportionality, as well as the right to seek legal remedies protected by the Constitution.
In this context, the Constitutional Court considered the following:
- It is a fundamental requirement of the right to access to court that individuals can foresee in advance the timeframes and procedures for filing a lawsuit, meaning how they can approach the court and the conditions for doing so.
- In accordance with the principles of legal certainty and predictability, the party against whom a decision is made by the first-instance or regional appellate court must clearly know whether they can appeal the decision, and if so, under what conditions they can exercise this right.
- Considering that the legislator updates the monetary thresholds for appeal and cassation applications each year, it is necessary to establish a reasonable balance to address economic losses occurred due to inflation.
- A decision that can be appealed to the court of appeal or cassation based on the monetary thresholds in effect on the date a legal relationship arises, the event causing the dispute occurs, or the lawsuit is filed, may become inaccessible for legal remedy based on the monetary thresholds in effect at the time the judgment is rendered, particularly in cases of prolonged litigation.
- While the monetary thresholds for legal appeals are updated, the value of the subject matter of the lawsuit or claim is not updated, meaning the burden created by inflation is directly passed on to the parties involved in the case.
- In this context, the balance between the burden the parties have to bear due to their inability to appeal and the public interest in concluding litigation with the least cost and in the shortest time has been disrupted. It has been concluded that this limitation on the right to request the review of court decisions is disproportionate and imposes an excessive burden on individuals.
In this context, it has been unanimously decided to annul the phrase “…341 inci, 362 nci ve…” in the second paragraph of Additional Article 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100, which regulates the application of monetary thresholds for appeals and cassation applications based on the thresholds in effect at the time the judgment is rendered.
The Decision will enter into force after nine months upon its publication in the Official Gazette.
The full text of the Decision can be accessible via this link. (Only available in Turkish)
