The Impact of European Court of Human Rights on National Legal Order

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Public Law Group, Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

2 M.A. in Public Law, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

After the World War II, European countries decided to establish a convention which protects fundamental human rights in a comprehensive way. This act roots in two main reasons; first of all, as the war was initiated in Europe, it had to ratify a convention which reduces the probability of atrocities’ repetition , it also provides the opportunity  for European countries to supervise each other. It should be noted that at the time of the ratification, European countries did not have the same condition from the human rights law’s point of view. For instance, Ireland was the only country that ratified a national document which obligates the government to protect its citizens’ different human rights. In addition, many countries did not have any constitutional court in order to evaluate the consistency between constitutional law and other national laws.
European Court of Human Rights was established with the aim of protecting European citizens’ rights by the convention’s content. This court permits the citizens of European countries to lodge their applications against the implication of governments in human rights field. Although this organization does not have a direct mechanism to change national legal orders, it can affect the legal system of European countries indirectly. The research on the case law of European countries indicates that judges in national courts refer to the procedure of European court of human rights in many cases, which are dealing with human rights issues. It should be noted that if the court finds out that the human rights of an individual is breached according to the convention, it forces the governments to pay the compensation. After decades, governments realized that they can change their national laws in accordance with the convention in order to avoid paying compensation. This solution leads to the process which is called the Incorporation of European Convention of Human Rights in national legal orders.
As it mentioned before, European countries implicated convention in different ways; this difference is based on the legal position of European Document in European countries. Convention in some countries such as Austria has the same hierarchical position as the constitution. In other countries like France or Portugal, the convention is placed upper than normal laws and lower than the constitution. At last in some countries like Britain, the convention is considered the same as normal laws. From another point of view, the approach of European governments to international law affects their  behavior with convention as an international document. Some countries like Italy, has a monistic approach, which means that they adapt international law sources such as convention into their national legal order. But the other countries for instance France by choosing dualistic approach have different mechanism for the implication of international documents in comparison with national legal orders. Choosing each of these approaches leads to the different incorporation process of the convention.
Usually national judges use two main solutions in order to incorporate convention in the national legal procedure.  They try to interpret their national laws in the light of the convention, or they refuse to apply the implication of laws which are in conflict with the convention. The procedure of national courts indicates that incorporation of convention is a gradual process which is continued up to now. In spite of the different positions of European national legal orders, this convention is considered as an enforceable law. However, high number of applications which is lodged in European court of human rights, indicates that in many cases governments ignore this enforceable position.

Keywords

References

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Comparative Law Review
Volume 11, Issue 1
Spring & Summer
April 2020
Pages 59-79

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