Section 156: Filing the fee waiver application

Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section

1. Supreme Court Judgment No. 1932/2568 (2025)

   A fee-waiver application under Section 156 applies by analogy in consumer cases, and the court fees it concerns include the deposit required for filing an appeal referred to in Section 157.

   The defendant appealed and applied for a fee waiver under Section 156, applied by analogy in a consumer case. The Supreme Court noted that the court fees covered by that section include the deposit for filing an appeal referred to in Section 157, being the sum to reimburse the plaintiff under the trial judgment.

2. Supreme Court Judgment No. 861/2561 (2018)

   An application for exemption from court fees on appeal must be made together with the appeal, as section 156 paragraph one requires. An application made only as the last extension for depositing the fees is about to expire, with nothing to show that the applicant inability to pay arose later, contravenes that paragraph and may be dismissed. Once it is dismissed the applicant right is to appeal that order within seven days of it under section 156/1 paragraph four; moving instead to have the order set aside as an irregularity, so that a fresh period for depositing the fees might be fixed, is a delaying tactic, and the court need fix no new period before refusing the appeal for non-payment.

   The defendant obtained two extensions to appeal and then three extensions to deposit the appeal fees and the fees payable to the plaintiff, the last expiring on 29 April 2016 with a warning that failure would be treated as abandoning the appeal. On 28 April 2016 it deposited the fees payable to the plaintiff and applied for exemption from the appeal court fees. The Supreme Court held that the application should have accompanied the appeal under section 156 paragraph one; made only as the final extension was expiring, with nothing to show that inability to pay had arisen later, it contravened that paragraph and was rightly dismissed. The defendant could have appealed the dismissal within seven days under section 156/1 paragraph four, but instead moved to have the order set aside as irregular so that a fresh period for payment might be fixed, which showed that its purpose was only to delay. The court was therefore right to dismiss the application without fixing a new period and to refuse the appeal for non-payment.

3. Supreme Court Judgment No. 4439/2558 (2015)

   Where an applicant who filed a fee-waiver application under Section 156 fails to appear at the inquiry, the court may dismiss the application and order the court fees paid within a set time, failing which the complaint is treated as abandoned.

   The plaintiff sued and applied for a fee waiver under Section 156; the court set an inquiry date and held the complaint pending. When the plaintiff failed to appear, the court dismissed the waiver application and ordered the court fees paid within seven days, failing which the complaint would be treated as abandoned.

Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.