The European Convention On Human Rights And General International Law

This text explores the interaction, divergence, and convergence between the European Court of Human Rights and general international law as developed by the International Court of Justice. It focuses on sources of international law, methods of interpretation, jurisdiction, state responsibility, and immunity.

The European Court of Human Rights is one of the main players in interpreting international human rights law where issues of general international law arise. While developing its own jurisprudence for the protection of human rights in the European context, it remains embedded in the developments of general international law. However, because the Court does not always follow general international law closely and develops its own doctrines, which are, in turn, influential for national courts as well as other international courts and tribunals, a feedback loop of influence occurs. This book explores the interaction, including the problems arising in the context of human rights, between the European Convention on Human Rights and general international law. It contributes to ongoing debates on the fragmentation and convergence of international law from the perspective of international judges as well as academics. Some of the chapters suggest reconciling methods and convergence while others stress the danger of fragmentation. The focus is on specific topics which have posed special problems, namely sources, interpretation, jurisdiction, state responsibility and immunity.

The European Convention on Human Rights is one of the world's most important and influential human rights documents. It owes its value mainly to the European Court of Human Rights, which applies the Convention rights in individual cases. This book offers insight into the concepts and principles that are key to understanding the European Convention and the Court's case law. It explains how the Court approaches its cases and its decision-making process, illustrated by numerous examples taken from the Court's judgments. Core issues discussed include types of Convention rights (such as absolute rights); the structure of the Court's Convention rights review; principles and methods of interpretation (such as common-ground interpretation and the use of precedent); positive and negative obligations; vertical and horizontal effect; the margin of appreciation doctrine; and the requirements for the restriction of Convention rights.

The rule of law.

This volume discusses the impact of human rights law on other fields of international law. Does international human rights law modify other fields of international law? Contributions focus on possible spillover effects of human rights on international economic or international criminal law. Does international human rights law have a streamlining effect on international law as a whole? This might be identified as a process of constitutionalisation. In this book, human rights can be understood as one of the core principles of international legal order and thus have an effect on the general law of treaties or on the settlement of disputes. Although human rights law is a relatively young field of international law, its content and core values today are of major importance for the interpretation of international law as a whole. As we witness a redefinition of sovereignty as a responsibility of states towards the people and a shift to greater relevance of the individual in international law in general, it is a logical consequence that human rights have an impact on other areas of international law.

In The Interpretation and Application of the European Convention of Human Rights: Legal and Practical Implications, the aim is to offer a two-pronged approach on the effect that the ECHR has in the field of human rights as well as in other areas of international law. The first part explores general and theoretical aspects of the application of the ECHR, such as provisional apllication, norm-conflict resolution, the interplay between human rights and occupation law. The second Part, building on the research and conclusions of the first Part, examines the amphidromous relationship of the ECHR with other areas of law. Since no branch of international law exists in "clinical isolation", this Part analyses the effects that the ECHR has on and is recipient of, from a variety of diverse areas of law such as law of the sea, investment law and rights of indigenous peoples.

2. The right to marry