A Brief History Of The Origins And Development Of The European Court Of Human Rights

Based in Strasbourg, France, the European Court of Human Rights is a supra-national or international court established by the European Convention on Human Rights. It hears applications alleging that a contracting state has breached one or more of the human rights provisions concerning civil and political rights set out in the Convention and its protocols. An application can be lodged by an individual, a group of individuals, or one or more of the other contracting states, and, besides issuing judgments, the Court can also issue advisory opinions. The Convention was adopted within the context of the Council of Europe, and all of its 47 Member States are contracting parties to the Convention. In this book, a brief history of the origins and development of the Court is presented. The book includes the recently (May 2013) updated Rules of Court and the appendix contains the most basic documents of the Court.

This insightful book considers how the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is faced with numerous challenges which emanate from authoritarian and populist tendencies arising across its member states. It argues that it is now time to reassess how the ECHR responds to such challenges to the protection of human rights in the light of its historical origins.

The European Convention on Human Rights is probably the most effective system of international human rights control created. This book examines the story of the evolution of the Convention over its first 50 years. It explains how the Convention system grew up and how it came to exert such an important influence on the States which subscribe to it.

Nussberger traces the history of the European Court of Human Rights from its political context in the 1940s to the present day, answering pressing questions about its origins and workings. This first book in the Elements of International Law series, provides a fresh, objective, and non-argumentative approach to the European Court of Human Rights.

Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

In recent years, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) gained unexpected relevance in the European constitutional culture. On the one hand, its increasing importance is closely linked to institutional reforms that strengthened the European Court of Human Rights' reputation vis-a-vis the Member States. On the other hand, and even more importantly, the ECHR's significance arises from a changing perception of its constitutional potential. Starting with the assumption that the ECHR is transforming the European constitutional landscape, this book shows that the European Convention raises unprecedented problems that involve, first of all, its own theoretical status as constitutional instrument that ensures the protection of human rights in Europe. Changing paradigms concerning its incorporation in domestic law, as well as the growing conflicts about the protection of some rights and liberties that are deeply rooted in national legal contexts (such as teaching of religion, bio law, and rights of political minorities), are jointly examined in order to offer a unified methodology for the study of European constitutional law centered upon human rights. For a detailed analysis of these issues, the book examines the different facets of the ECHR's constitutional relevance by separating the ECHR's role as a 'factor of Europeanization' for national constitutional systems (Part I) from its role as a veritable European transnational constitution in the field of human rights (Part II). Written for legal scholars focusing on the emerging trends of European and transnational constitutional law, the book investigates the basic tenets of the role of the ECHR as a cornerstone of European constitutionalism.