European University Institute Library

Domestic application of the ECHR, courts As faithful trustees, Eirik Bjorge

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-262) and index

index present

non fiction

Domestic application of the ECHR

bibliography

907657635

Eirik Bjorge

International Law in Domestic Legal Orders

courts As faithful trustees

This book seeks to provide an answer to the question: what is the proper role of the domestic courts in the application of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)? This question bears both on how the domestic courts define their role in relation to the European Court of Human Rights and to other national authorities. Relying on examples from French, German, and UK law, the book develops the argument that the proper role of the domestic courts in the application of the ECHR is to act as faithful trustees of the Convention rights. This is a trust to be performed honestly and in good faith. That involves applying the Convention rights loyally with a focus on the principles underlying those rights. Equally importantly, however, it involves an acute understanding of the fact that the domestic courts would not be in a position to apply the ECHR at all had it not been for the fact that its interpretation and application were entrusted to them by the other organs of the municipal state. Domestic principles of the separation of powers may, therefore, in some cases be determinative of the domestic interpretation of the Convention rights as far as the state in question is concerned. The book concludes that the safeguarding of the Convention rights was always intended to lie in the first place with the domestic authorities; only if that domestic application is faithful and loyal can the European Court play the subsidiary role which it was always intended to play.--, Provided by Publisher

Domestic application of the European Court of Human Rights