126 Legal Digest of International Fair Trial Rights 6.4 Timely hearing Article 14 of the ICCPR “(1) In the determination of any criminal charge against him, or of his rights and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be entitled to a fair… hearing… “(3) In the determination of any criminal charge against him, everyone shall be entitled to the following minimum guarantees, in full equality: “(c) To be tried without undue delay;” Article 6(1) of the ECHR “In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time...” The right to be tried “without undue delay” (as enunciated in Article 14(3)(c) of the ICCPR), or, as expressed in Article 6(1) of the ECHR, the right to a hearing “within a reasonable time”, is a right that accounts for more judgments of the European Court of Human Rights than on any other issue.523 The purpose of this guarantee, which is also known as the maxim “justice delayed is justice denied”, is to avoid keeping persons in a state of uncertainty by protecting all parties to court proceedings against excessive procedural delays,524 which may, in turn, jeopardize the effectiveness and credibility of the administration of justice.525 The conduct of the authorities plays a major role in determining whether there has been undue delay in trying a case. Both the Human Rights Committee and European Court of Human Rights reject the most common argument provided in response to allegations of undue delay, namely that there is a judicial backlog of cases. According to the European Court, the ECHR places Contracting States under a duty to organize their legal systems so as to enable domestic courts to comply with the requirements of Article 6(1), including that of trial within a reasonable time (See also 6.4.4).526 The European Court would only excuse a temporary backlog, provided effective measures are adopted to address it, and not a systemic failure to adjudicate cases without 523 Mole and Harby, op. cit., note 132, p.24. 524 Stögmüller v Austria [1969] ECHR 25, para 5 (under the heading “As to the Law”); and UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment 32 (2007), para 35. 525 H. v France [1989] ECHR 17, para 58; Bottazzi v Italy [1999] ECHR 62, para 22; Cocchiarella v Italy [2006] ECHR 609, para 119 (available in french only) and UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment 32 (2007), para 35. 526 Nogolica v Croatia [2006] ECHR 1050, para 27; Horvat v Croatia [2001] ECHR 488, para 59; G. H. v Austria [2000] ECHR 447, para 20; Salesi v Italy [1993] ECHR 14, para 24.