LibGuides: Public International Law Research: European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights

General Overview

Established in 1950 by Council of Europe in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the "Convention"), the European Court of Human Rights (the "ECHR") serves as the main judicial forum for individuals to lodge complaints regarding breaches of their rights guaranteed by the Convention against member states of the Council of Europe.

The composition of the ECHR varies and the Convention does not specify a set number of judges for the court. However, the ECHR is typically composed of at least one judge from every member state on the Council of Europe.

The following table outlines the jurisdictional authority of the ECHR:

Private Petitions	The ECHR has the authority to hear cases brought by individual citizens against a state party alleging a violation of a right guaranteed by the Convention.
Interstate Complaints	The ECHR has the authority to hear cases brought by one state party against another for violations of the Convention.
Advisory Jurisdiction	Under Protocol 16 to the Convention (opens as a PDF), the highest domestic courts of the member states may request the ECHR issue an advisory opinion on questions of interpretation relating to the Convention and its protocols. These questions can also arise out of pending cases before the domestic court that implicates rights guaranteed under the Convention.

Under Article 6 of the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Union is required to join the Convention and will be subject to the jurisdiction of the ECHR. Once this accession formally occurs, individuals living within EU member states may file complaints with the ECHR for review of the acts of EU institutions. However, negotiations for the accession of the EU (opens as a PDF) to the Convention are still ongoing.

Locating ECHR Primary Materials

Online Primary ECHR Materials

Core Texts

The core texts for the ECHR are easily accessible through the ECHR's website and include the following:

Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the European Convention on Human Rights)
Rules of Court

Cases

HUDOC Database

The HUDOC database provides access to many of the underlying materials from ECHR cases. In addition to providing access to case decisions, the HUDOC database also provides links to legal summaries, case overviews, press releases, and video of the hearings. ECHR cases in the HUDOC database can be filtered by date, language of the materials, state, Article or violation number, and keywords. There is also an advanced search option that allows the researcher to search by specific citation information or create their own in-text keyword search.

Case Law Analysis

In addition to providing access to ECHR cases via the HUDOC database, the ECHR website also provides access to various "case-law analysis" tools, including the following:

Case-Law Information Note: A monthly publication, this document contains summaries of cases that are of particular interest and also provides news about the ECHR.
Overview of the Court's Case-Law: This publication is published once a year and highlights judgments and decision which raise new issues or advance matters of general interest.

World LII

The WorldLII website also provides access to judicial decisions from the ECHR from 1960-present. The database is not easily searched and only contain the judgments without any of the supporting content available on the ECHR's website. This is another free option for researchers wanting quick access to ECHR judicial decisions.

Lexis Advance

Lexis Advance also provides users with access to ECHR decisions and does allow for advanced terms and connectors searching in the opinions. This option is particularly useful if you are trying to identify cases dealing with specific provisions in the Convention or key issues. (Available only to UNC Law students and faculty.)

Other Publications

The Council of Europe's member States have adopted several Protocols to the Convention, which seek to improve the functioning of the ECHR. In addition, the ECHR regularly hosts high-level conferences focusing on potential reforms for the court and publishes reports highlighting recent changes. All of these materials are available on the ECHR's website at this link.

Finally, the ECHR also makes statistical reports relating to the types of cases heard by the court available online. These reports include reports analyzing the individual years, member states, and key cases brought before the court.

Recommended Secondary Sources

When Human Rights Clash at the European Court of Human Rights by Stijn Smet (Editor); Eva Brems (Editor)
ISBN: 9780198795957
Publication Date: 2017-09-13
The notion of conflict rests at the heart of the judicial function. Judges are routinely asked to resolve disputes and defuse tensions. Yet, when judges are called upon to adjudicate a purported conflict between human rights, they face particular challenges and must address specific questions.Some of these concern the very existence of human rights conflicts. Can human rights really conflict with one another, in terms of mutual incompatibility? Or should human rights be interpreted in harmony with one another? Other questions concern the resolution of real conflicts. To the extent thathuman rights do conflict, how should these conflicts be resolved? To what extent is balancing desirable? And if it is desirable, which understanding of balancing should judges employ? This book seeks to provide both theoretical and practical answers to these questions.When Human Rights Clash at the European Court of Human Rights: Conflict or Harmony? debates both the existence and resolution of human rights conflicts, in the specific context of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The contributors put forth principled and pragmatic arguments andpropose theoretical as well as practical approaches, whilst firmly embedding their proposals in the case law of the European Court. Doing so, this book provides concrete ways forward in the ongoing debate on conflicts of rights at Europe's human rights court.
Parliaments and the European Court of Human Rights by Philip Leach; Alice Donald
ISBN: 9780198734246
Publication Date: 2016-09-28
The European system of human rights protection faces institutional and political pressures which threaten its very survival. These institional pressures stem from the backlog of applications before the European Court of Human Rights, the large number of its judgments that remain unimplemented,and the political pressures that arise from sustained attacks on the Court's legitimacy and authority, notably from politicians and jurists in the United Kingdom. This book addresses the theme which lies at the heart of these pressures: the role of national parliaments in the implementation of judgments of the Court. It combines theoretical and empirical insights into the role of parliaments in securing domestic compliance with the Court's decisions, andprovides detailed investigation of five European states with differing records of human rights compliance and parliamentary mobilisation: Ukraine, Romania, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands.How far are parliaments engaged in implementation, and how far should they be? Do parliaments advance or hinder human rights compliance? Is it ever justifiable for parliaments to defy judgments of the Court? And how significant is the role played by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council ofEurope? Drawing on the fields of international law, international relations, political science, and political philosophy, the book argues that adverse human rights judgments not only confer obligations on parliamentarians but also create opportunities for them to develop influential interpretationsof human rights and enhance their own democratic legitimacy. It makes an authoritative contribution to debate about the future of the European and other supranational human rights mechanisms and the broader relationship between democracy, human rights, and legitimate authority.
The European Court of Human Rights and Its Discontents by Spyridon I. Phlogaites; Tom Zwart (Editor); Julie Fraser (Editor); Spyridon Flogaitis (Editor)
ISBN: 9781782546115
Publication Date: 2013-06-28
The European Court of Human Rights has long been part of the most advanced human rights regime in the world. However, the Court has increasingly drawn criticism, with questions raised about its legitimacy and backlog of cases. This book for the first time brings together the critics of the Court and its proponents to debate these issues. The result is a collection which reflects balanced perspectives on the Court's successes and challenges.Judges, academics and policymakers engage constructively with the Court's criticism, developing novel pathways and strategies for the Court to adopt to increase its legitimacy, to amend procedures to reduce the backlog of applications, to improve dialogue with national authorities and courts, and to ensure compliance by member States. The solutions presented seek to ensure the Court's relevance and impact into the future and to promote the effective protection of human rights across Europe.Containing a dynamic mix of high-profile contributors from across Council of Europe member States, this book will appeal to human rights professionals, European policymakers and politicians, law and politics academics and students as well as human rights NGOs.
European Consensus and the Legitimacy of the European Court of Human Rights by Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou
ISBN: 9781107041035
Publication Date: 2015-04-30
In order to be effective, international tribunals should be perceived as legitimate adjudicators. European Consensus and the Legitimacy of the European Court of Human Rights provides in-depth analyses on whether European consensus is capable of enhancing the legitimacy of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Focusing on the method and value of European consensus, it examines the practicalities of consensus identification and application and discusses whether State-counting is appropriate in human rights adjudication. With over 30 interviews from judges of the ECtHR and qualitative analyses of the case law, this book gives readers access to firsthand and up-to-date information, and provides an understanding of how the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg interprets the European Convention on Human Rights.