4.  The applicants, mother and daughters, were born in 1937, 1957 and 1966. Mrs Maria Matica, the mother, died on 3 September 2004 and Mrs Maria-Marieta Matica died on 27 July 2006. Mrs Doina-Meri Matica is their sole heir. She currently lives in Copăceni, Romania. 5.  On 18 June 1992, the first applicant and V.M., her husband, lodged an action with the Beiuş District Court seeking a declaration that they were the owners of a plot of land and, accordingly, an order for their ownership title to be published in the Land Registry. On 5 October 1992, they supplemented their action, also seeking a declaration that the property deed for the same plot of land issued to third parties was null and void. They claimed that they had purchased, in 1981, the respective plot of land, together with a house that had been built on it. 6.  On 1 February 1993, the action was partially allowed. However, on 2 July 1993, the Bihor County Court, acting upon the claimants’ appeal, referred the case back to the District Court for a fresh examination, on the ground that the latter court omitted to rule on one of the complaints.
Of the fourteen hearing held between 14 October 1993 and 27 October 1994, ten were adjourned for the absence of witnesses or of the expert reports, one at the first applicant’s request in order to hire a lawyer and one for deliberations.
In a decision of 27 October 1994, the Beiuş District Court remitted to the Oradea Court of Appeal the complaint concerning the nullity of the property deed issued to third parties, and stayed the examination of the other complaints until the validity of the property deed would be decided by the appropriate courts. 7.  Before the Court of Appeal one hearing was adjourned for the applicants to hire a lawyer and one for problems with the summonsing procedure. After another postponed hearing due to failure in the summonsing procedure, on 15 May 1995 the Oradea Court of Appeal dismissed the action on the ground that the first applicant and her husband had not exhausted the preliminary administrative procedure before lodging their complaints with the courts. 8.  The first applicant and her husband appealed against this decision, considering that the Court of Appeal was not competent to examine the matter. On 5 June 1996, the Supreme Court of Justice allowed the appeal and remitted the case to the Beiuş District Court. 9.  Twelve hearings were held before this court, most of them being adjourned due to the absence of any answer to the claimants’ requests of information from the local authorities in support of their claims.
The Beiuş District Court dismissed all the complaints formulated by the applicants, in a judgment of 16 July 1998. All parties appealed. 10.  On 26 March 1999, the Bihor County Court referred the case back to the District Court, on the ground that no specific action had been ordered to the administrative authorities responsible for the deliverance of the property deed, although they were parties to the proceedings. 11.  On 17 December 1999, the Beiuş District Court re-examined the action and dismissed it. 12.  On 9 February 2000, V.M. died and the action was continued by his wife and daughters, the applicants. 13.  On 30 April 2001, the applicants’ appeal was dismissed by the Bihor County Court. 14.  In a final decision of 3 December 2001, the Oradea Court of Appeal confirmed the solution, upon the applicants’ appeal on points of law. 15.  Based on the evidence adduced in the case, namely the purchase contract of 1981 and witness testimony, the courts found that, in 1981, the applicants only bought the house and not the land in question. Furthermore, they could not bring any evidence showing that the intention of the parties of the 1981 contract had been to transfer the ownership of the land. In addition, the court could find no ground to declare the third parties’ ownership title null and void.