A French law (Loi Verdeille) obliged owners of property of a certain size to become members of approved hunting associations and to cede hunting rights to them.

The claimants are owners of property who are ethically opposed to hunting and requested not having to transfer the hunting rights to the hunting associations. However, they were unsuccessful before the French courts and the issue was referred the European Court of Human Rights.

The court held that there was an interference with the right to use property as there was no provision available for those ethically opposed to hunting practices. This interference of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 was held not to be justified, because compelling landowners to transfer hunting rights despite the incompatibility with their beliefs is disproportionate to the public interest. The Article was therefore violated. Furthermore, there was an unjustified discrimination, because large landowners, as opposed to small landowners, did have the right to object to transferring hunting rights.