European Court of Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights: European Court of Human Rights
Introduction to European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights is composed of a number of judges equal to the number of members of the Council of Europe.
The majority of cases referred to the court come from the commission, usually where there are difficult points of law or sharp differences in opinion between the members of the commission. In essence, the function of the court is to be a supranational body that places a primary obligation on states to comply with the convention. Decisions are therefore not binding on domestic courts. This is examined below with respect to the relevance of the ECHR to domestic authorities in the United Kingdom.” (1)
Description of European Court of Human Rights
The Concise Encyclopedia of the European Union describes european court of human rights in the following terms: [1] The Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is an adjunct of the Council of Europe and is unrelated to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg, although both are colloquially known as the European Court. The Court, which accepts a case only when national remedies have been exhausted and has no independent powers of enforcement, decides about 25 cases a year, the whole process, including the determination of admissibility, taking five years or more (see more in this European encyclopedia). The Court’s jurisdiction is limited to states which have signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights. The Treaty of Amsterdam recognised the Convention as establishing principles of Community law but added other social entitlements, with the result that theECJ also has jurisdiction in this often subjective (and politically sensitive) area.
European Court of Human Rights and the European Union
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See Also
- Court of Human Rights
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Notas y References
- Based on the book “A Concise Encyclopedia of the European Union from Aachen to Zollverein”, by Rodney Leach (Profile Books; London)
See Also
Resources
Notes and References
Guide to European Court of Human Rights
In this Section
European Convention on Human Rights, ECHR Articles, European Commission of Human Rights and European Court of Human Rights.
Citation Notes
Until the end of 1995, judgments of the European Court of Human Rights were published in Series A: Judgments and Decisions (abbreviated ‘Eur Court HR (ser A)’), which is organised by volume. The pagination begins again for each case (that is, in each volume or in each part of a volume denoted by a letter). From 1996, judgments of the Court have been published in Reports of Judgments and Decisions (abbreviated ‘Eur Court HR’), which is organised by year.
Because the pagination is not consecutive across a volume, the volume number should be included in citations of Eur Court HR.
Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights are also published in the unofficial European Human Rights Reports (‘EHRR’), which should be cited if a case does not appear in Eur Court HR (ser A) or Eur Court HR.
Until 1988, the Court published Series B: Pleadings, Oral Arguments and Documents (abbreviated ‘Eur Court HR (ser B)’)
European Court of Human Rights
Resources
See Also
- See European Convention on Human Rights.