1 Political Role of Courts and Judges from a European and Comparative Perspective Zuzana Vikarská The submitted dissertation examines European apex courts (i.e. the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights) and aims to answer the research question whether these judicial institutions are political and, if so, in what sense. The author puts forward five perspectives from which the political role of courts and judges can be analysed. The first dimension perceives judges as human beings who are influenced not only by legal rules but also by various non-legal influences, including political ones. In the first dimension, the notion of politics therefore stands in contrast to a certain idea of legal purity and separation of law from politics. This first dimension covers various jurisprudential perspectives on judicial decision-making, but also issues such as transparency of judicial institutions or the quality of judicial reasoning. The second dimension looks at the nomination procedures that lead to judicial appointments at the European apex courts. In this case, politics means the participation of political actors in the process of selecting candidates for the judicial functions. In this meaning, the notion of politics stands in opposition to the notion of expertise. The...

La consécration du droit à l'autodétermination par la Cour européenne des droits de l'Homme, à l'occasion de deux arrêts figurant désormais au sein des« grands arrêts» de cette juridiction, appelait, en elle-même, une étude Elle l'appelait d'autant plus que le droit à l'autodétermination semble à même de permettre un véritable renouvellement du droit français quant à l'appréhension juridique des pouvoirs de la personne sur son corps. En l'état actuel du droit interne, ces pouvoirs ne sont pas clairement identifiés, de sorte que la frontière entre actes licites et illicites est poreuse, voire insaisissable. Utile, en sus d'être obligatoire, l'intégration du droit à l'autodétermination en droit interne est essentielle: elle permet de régir harmonieusement les pouvoirs de la personne sur son corps. Vérifier cette hypothèse supposait de s'assurer des potentialités du droit à l'autodétermination et d'identifier les lignes directrices de son exercice. À l'étude, le droit à l'autodétermination peut être défini comme le pouvoir d'exiger d'autrui le respect de ses choix effectués dans le cadre de sa vie privée lorsqu'ils sont amenés à se réaliser sur son corps. L'émergence d'un nouveau droit à dans l'ordre juridique implique nécessairement de savoir comment l'exercer, c'est-à-dire de saisir ses contours et ses limites et de s'assurer de sa garantie: sans limite, l'exercice du droit à l'autodétermination serait indéniablement un danger pour le maintien de l'ordre juridique interne; sans garantie, il serait stérile. / No English summary available.

This thesis bearing the name "The European Convention on Human Rights, Article 8" has the objective to define the right to respect for private and family life through the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. The work is concentrating on the topic of registered partnership, especially upon the question of whether a homosexual pair can be recognized as a family in the sense of Article 8 of European Convention on Human Rights. Further issues discussed are the question of children and their biological parents, whether a child has a right to know his biological parents, and the problem of implementation of Article 8 in the Czech Republic focusing on the question of problems in implementation of the right to respect for private life and for family life. The first two chapters are aimed at defining the pertinent terms and outlining the historical development of this area of law. Main part of the work are the last two chapters, which are concentrating on the above mentioned issues through the interpretation of selected relevant jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. This interpretation of the jurisprudence has resulted in answers on the set questions, with respect to the fact that it is a current interpretation of the Convention by the Court. The main finding is the necessity to realize that the Convention as a living instrument will keep developing according to the development of society, which leads to the results and answers being pertinent only at the time of writing of this work, with the future development being possibly different from current results.

The diploma thesis deals with the issue of human rights of legal persons according to the ECHR. In addition to natural persons, legal persons are holders of fundamental rights and freedoms. These rights are so important that they are worthy of protection, not only at national level, but also at regional and universal level. For 47 European countries, the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms is ensured by an international organization called the Council of Europe. Within the Council of Europe, there is a European Court of Human Rights established under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950. Natural persons and, where the nature of the fundamental rights and freedoms set out in the Convention and its protocols allow, also legal persons lodge complaints with this court. Using a descriptive, comparative, and analytical method, this thesis aims to comprehensively present the legal person in the role of an individual applicant to the ECtHR, paying special attention to the case-law of the ECtHR, specifically judgments on legal persons' applications against the Czech Republic. The work is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the concept of a legal person as such, while further describing its role as an individual applicant to the ECtHR,...

Should same sex couples have a right to marriage? This question has been debated frequently during the last two decades. The legislation across Europe shows a divide between countries that have legalised same-sex marriage and countries that have introduced constitutional bans on same-sex marriage. Using a theory that emphasises the moral dimension of human rights, I examine the right to marriage in the European Convention of Human Rights from an ethical perspective. The purpose of this thesis is threefold. The first aim is to investigate how the right to marriage is regulated in The European Convention on Human Rights and how its interpreted by The European Court of Human Rights. The second aim is to identify and assess central arguments in the debate about same sex marriage from a human rights perspective. The third and final aim is to perform a critical examination of the right to marriage in the European Convention of Human rights from an ethical perspective.   This study shows that The European Court of Human Rights is cautious in its interpretation of the right to marriage and has chosen to await a European consensus before including same-sex couples in the right to marriage. By looking closer at the evolutionary interpretation of the convention, as discussed by George Letsas & Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou, I conclude that this interpretation should be based on certain moral principles. Through the examination of central arguments in the same-sex marriage debate I draw the conclusion that same sex couples have a moral right to marriage. Thus, this thesis suggests that there is a contradiction between the moral dimension of human rights and The European Court of Human Rights interpretation of the right to marriage for same-sex couples. I therefore argue that there should be an ethical demand to include same sex-couples in the right to marriage.

This diploma thesis analyses the status of social rights in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. It aims to show, particularly through the analysis of selected court decisions, how the European Court of Human Rights, as a control mechanism established by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms seeking to provide recognised rights and freedoms with practical and effective protection, deals with the absence of social rights in the Convention's catalogue. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is dedicated to the brief description of the Convention, its control mechanism and the catalogue of declared fundamental rights and freedoms. In this section the thesis also deals with the question, what were the reasons that lead to the absence of social rights in the Convention's catalogue and what consequences can be draw from this fact for the status of social rights. In this context the thesis discusses the principle of indivisibility of human rights, according to which all human rights hold an equal status and which requires that human rights of all categories are protected and promoted with the same emphasis. The second chapter deals with the way the Court includes social aspects of guaranteed civil and political rights in its...

1 Discrimination against Muslims in Europe The topic of this thesis is primarily the issue of discrimination or non-discrimination of Muslims in Europe. I chose this issue due to the topicality of the topic and, in my opinion, insufficient processing by expert sources. It is currently a major geopolitical problem that Europe is trying to tackle. Whether successfully or unsuccessfully is the topic of this thesis and, above all, the answer to this question depends on the reader of this thesis. Given the situation in predominantly Muslim countries, there is a large influx of migrants who are supporters of Islam. Europe is trying to respond to this situation, but all systems are not changing fast enough to satisfy all parties, with this in mind, there are disputes between the Muslim and non-Muslim populations. The thesis deals with the issues of discrimination and equality in general, where the individual divisions and approaches (direct, indirect, formal, material, equality of opportunities and equality of results, positive, negative) are elaborated. Subsequently, the thesis contains a historical-cultural excursion to Islam (origin of religion, description of historical events, explanation of basic terms, division and specification of sources, the way of Muhammad, pillars of Islam) with emphasis on important...

<p style="text-align: justify;">Објективна је чињеница да је Европски суд за људска права најстарији међународни форум за заштиту људских права. Вредносна оцена, да је овај Суд уз то и најзначајнији и најуспешнији суд такве врсте, последњих деценија постала је практично опште место у правној теорији. Као разлози успеха, уобичајено се наводе две чињенице: висок степен поверења које Суд ужива од стране држава чланица и лица која му се обраћају те велики утицај који је пракса тог Суда имала на укупан развој људских права на европском континенту али и шире.<br />Највећи утицај Европски суд за људска права, остварио је у домену успостављања стандарда заштите слобода и права гарантованих Конвенцијом, а који стандарди су доцније имплементирани на националном нивоу држава чланица. У том смислу, значај праксе Суда превазилази збир појединачно пружене заштите сваком од лица чија је представка у досадашњој историји Суда усвојена. Корпус судске праксе из које произилазе бројни стандарди заштите данас је у многоме полазна тачка у аргументацији и националних законодаваца и националних судова.<br />Из наведеног произилази и осетљива позиција коју Суд заузима у контролном механизму Конвенције. Са једне стране, да би био ефикасан, од њега се очекује да кроз своју праксу и даље утиче на заштиту људских права и слобода и да том праксом (некада непосредно, а некада посредно) интервенише на пољу остварења и заштите права и слобода на националном нивоу. Са друге стране, Суд мора оправдати висок степен поверења држава чланица, чијом је вољом постао и чијем вољом опстаје на међународној сцени. Државе чланице, осетљиве су у погледу очувања сопственог суверенитета, па тако, када Суд прекорачи границе интервенције на које су државе &bdquo;навикле― оне Суду упућују позиве да свој &bdquo;интервенционизам― ограничи.<br />На описани начин ствара се једна врста вертикалне тензије између Суда и држава чланица, услед чега је Суд приморан да у свом одлучивању балансира између захтева да пружи ефикасну и ефективну заштиту људских права, и захтева да своју интервенцију у националне правне поретке сведе на прихватљиву границу.<br />Алат који Суд корити у поступку таквог балансирања управо јесте начело супсидијарности. Ово начело, у својој досадашњој пракси, Суд је означио као једно од основних и најважнијих начела свог функционисања, наводећи да је оно инхерентно механизму заштите који Конвенција успоставља. Услед специфичне позиције коју заузима, Суд начело супсидијарности користи и као штит, да би ограничио поље и начин свог деловања и тиме се заштитио од критика држава чланица; али и као мач, као средство које му даје основа да нападне неправду коју је уочио и интервенише у циљу пружања ефективне заштите права.<br />Циљ овог рада управо јесте да испита сва релевантна питања која се постављају у вези са овим важним начелом функционисања Суда.<br />У раду ће бити испитано најпре шта је то супсидијарност али и како се она развијала ван контролног механизма Конвенције да би се могла упоредити са супсидијарношћу у оквиру контролног механизма Конвенције. Биће испитано када се супсидијарност први пут јавља у пракси Суда, колико често се јавља у пракси и са којим последицама. Испитаће се посебно које правне инструменте из Конвенције и сопствене праксе Суд користи као израз начела супсидијарности, те како и из којих разлога ти инструменти делују као штит или као мач.</p> / <p style="text-align: justify;">Objektivna je činjenica da je Evropski sud za ljudska prava najstariji međunarodni forum za zaštitu ljudskih prava. Vrednosna ocena, da je ovaj Sud uz to i najznačajniji i najuspešniji sud takve vrste, poslednjih decenija postala je praktično opšte mesto u pravnoj teoriji. Kao razlozi uspeha, uobičajeno se navode dve činjenice: visok stepen poverenja koje Sud uživa od strane država članica i lica koja mu se obraćaju te veliki uticaj koji je praksa tog Suda imala na ukupan razvoj ljudskih prava na evropskom kontinentu ali i šire.<br />Najveći uticaj Evropski sud za ljudska prava, ostvario je u domenu uspostavljanja standarda zaštite sloboda i prava garantovanih Konvencijom, a koji standardi su docnije implementirani na nacionalnom nivou država članica. U tom smislu, značaj prakse Suda prevazilazi zbir pojedinačno pružene zaštite svakom od lica čija je predstavka u dosadašnjoj istoriji Suda usvojena. Korpus sudske prakse iz koje proizilaze brojni standardi zaštite danas je u mnogome polazna tačka u argumentaciji i nacionalnih zakonodavaca i nacionalnih sudova.<br />Iz navedenog proizilazi i osetljiva pozicija koju Sud zauzima u kontrolnom mehanizmu Konvencije. Sa jedne strane, da bi bio efikasan, od njega se očekuje da kroz svoju praksu i dalje utiče na zaštitu ljudskih prava i sloboda i da tom praksom (nekada neposredno, a nekada posredno) interveniše na polju ostvarenja i zaštite prava i sloboda na nacionalnom nivou. Sa druge strane, Sud mora opravdati visok stepen poverenja država članica, čijom je voljom postao i čijem voljom opstaje na međunarodnoj sceni. Države članice, osetljive su u pogledu očuvanja sopstvenog suvereniteta, pa tako, kada Sud prekorači granice intervencije na koje su države &bdquo;navikle― one Sudu upućuju pozive da svoj &bdquo;intervencionizam― ograniči.<br />Na opisani način stvara se jedna vrsta vertikalne tenzije između Suda i država članica, usled čega je Sud primoran da u svom odlučivanju balansira između zahteva da pruži efikasnu i efektivnu zaštitu ljudskih prava, i zahteva da svoju intervenciju u nacionalne pravne poretke svede na prihvatljivu granicu.<br />Alat koji Sud koriti u postupku takvog balansiranja upravo jeste načelo supsidijarnosti. Ovo načelo, u svojoj dosadašnjoj praksi, Sud je označio kao jedno od osnovnih i najvažnijih načela svog funkcionisanja, navodeći da je ono inherentno mehanizmu zaštite koji Konvencija uspostavlja. Usled specifične pozicije koju zauzima, Sud načelo supsidijarnosti koristi i kao štit, da bi ograničio polje i način svog delovanja i time se zaštitio od kritika država članica; ali i kao mač, kao sredstvo koje mu daje osnova da napadne nepravdu koju je uočio i interveniše u cilju pružanja efektivne zaštite prava.<br />Cilj ovog rada upravo jeste da ispita sva relevantna pitanja koja se postavljaju u vezi sa ovim važnim načelom funkcionisanja Suda.<br />U radu će biti ispitano najpre šta je to supsidijarnost ali i kako se ona razvijala van kontrolnog mehanizma Konvencije da bi se mogla uporediti sa supsidijarnošću u okviru kontrolnog mehanizma Konvencije. Biće ispitano kada se supsidijarnost prvi put javlja u praksi Suda, koliko često se javlja u praksi i sa kojim posledicama. Ispitaće se posebno koje pravne instrumente iz Konvencije i sopstvene prakse Sud koristi kao izraz načela supsidijarnosti, te kako i iz kojih razloga ti instrumenti deluju kao štit ili kao mač.</p> / <p style="text-align: justify;">European Court of Human Rights (EctHR) is the oldest international forum for the protection of human rights. The opinion that the European Court of Human Rights is the most important and most successful court of its kind has become, in recent decades, a matter of uncontested consensus in legal theory. There are two main commonly cited reasons for such success: the high level of confidence that the Court enjoys from the Member States and the persons who turn to it, and the great influence that the jurisprudence of that Court has on the overall development of human rights on the European continent, and beyond.</p><p>The greatest impact of the EctHR can be found in the domain of the establishment of standards for the protection of freedoms and rights guaranteed by the Convention, which were subsequently implemented at the national level of the Member States. In this respect, the importance of the Court&#39;s practice goes beyond the sum of individual protection provided to each of the persons whose application in the previous history of the Court has been upheld. The current case law, which gave rise to development of human rights standards, necessarily plays a vital role in human rights argumentation of both national legislators and national courts.</p><p>Bearing in mind the reasons for the Court&lsquo;s success mentioned above, it seems that there is a delicate position that the Court holds within the control mechanism of the Convention. On the one hand, the Court needs to intervene into national legal orders of the Member States (directly or indirectly) when those States fail to secure guaranties provided in the Convention. On the other hand, the Court must justify a high degree of confidence among the Member States, who constituted the Court and whose consent made the Court a prominent actor on international stage. Member States are sensitive in terms of preserving their own sovereignty. When the Court exceeds the limits of intervention to which States are &quot;accustomed&quot; they call upon the Court to limit its &quot;interventionism&quot;.</p><p>In this way, a sort of a vertical tension is created between the Court and the Member States, which is why the Court is compelled to balance its decisions between the requirement to provide efficient and effective protection of human rights, on one hand, and demands that its intervention into national legal orders should be reduced to an acceptable margin, on the other.</p><p>The mechanism used by the Court in the process of such balancing is, in fact, the principle of subsidiarity. This principle has been designated by the Court as one of the fundamental and supreme principles of its functioning, and as a principle that is inherent to the protection mechanism established by the Convention. Due to its specific position the Court has used the principle of subsidiarity both as a shield and as a sword. As a shield when required to limit the scope and method of its functioning thereby protecting itself from the criticism of the Member States. As a sword, when grappling with the manifest injustice on national level in order to intervene and provide effective protection of human rights.</p><p>The aim of this dissertation is to examine all the relevant issues raised in relation to this important principle of the functioning of the Court.This dissertation will firstly examine subsidiarity and how it evolved outside the control mechanism of the Convention, in order to be able to compare it with subsidiarity within the Convention&#39;s control mechanism. Furthermore, the research covers issues of frequency and consequences of the principle of subsidiarity in the Court&lsquo;s jurisprudence. The goal of the research is also to detect legal arguments and legal concepts used by the Court to express the principle of subsidiarity. The task is to examine whether and when these concepts and arguments are used as a shield or as a sword.</p>

No description available.

Le droit des contrats subit depuis quelques années des mutations importantes, au premier rang desquelles figure l’émergence de sources nouvelles, à l’instar des droits fondamentaux issus de la Convention européenne de sauvegarde des droits de l’homme et des libertés fondamentales (Convention EDH). Leur application classique dans les relations verticales unissant l’État à l’individu a connu un prolongement évident par la reconnaissance de l’effet horizontal du texte en droit interne, impliquant leur respect jusque dans les relations privées.L’interprétation du contrat, consistant à en révéler le sens et les obligations qui en découlent, constitue l’objet de l’étude menée. La lecture de l’acte contractuel doit se faire en conformité avec l’interprétation opérée par le juge européen de la Convention EDH. De ce constat émerge tout l’intérêt de la recherche, consistant à mettre en avant la confrontation évidente pouvant naître entre d’une part le contrat - porteur de principes forts (particulièrement l’autonomie de la volonté, et ses corollaires telles la liberté contractuelle et la force obligatoire du contrat) - et d’autre part le respect des droits fondamentaux. Dans quelles mesures ces derniers peuvent-ils influer sur l’interprétation d’un contrat privé ?Le travail de recherches entrepris révèle un rôle sensible des droits fondamentaux sur l’interprétation du contrat - le respect des droits fondamentaux prime de manière générale la force obligatoire - et constate que cette influence est le fruit d’une démarche complémentaire du juge européen, lequel dicte, et du juge interne, lequel réceptionne les droits fondamentaux dans l’interprétation.Cette étude - bien que certains de ses aspects paraissent encore empiriques - témoigne d’une influence perfectible des droits fondamentaux sur l’interprétation du contrat. En ce sens, des pistes d’améliorations, tant au niveau européen qu’interne, ont pu être envisagées / The law of contracts has known for some years important changes, particularly the emergence of new sources like the fundamental rights of the European Convention on Human Rights. Their classic application in the vertical relations uniting the State to the individual knew an obvious continuation by the recognition of the horizontal effect of the text in internal law, implying their respect to the private relations.The interpretation of the contract, to determine the sense and the obligations which it contains, is the object of this thesis. The reading of the contractual act has to be done in accordance with the interpretation operated by the european judge of the European Convention. The interest of the thesis consists in advancing the evident confrontation which can appear between the contract (the autonomy of the will, the contractual freedom and the binding effect) and the protection of the fundamental rights. To which extent can these last ones influence the interpretation of a private contract?The study reveals the important role of the fundamental rights, and their respect dominate mostly. This influence is the fruit of a complementary approach of the european judge, who dictates, and of the internal judge, who receives the fundamental rights in the interpretation.This study - although some of its aspects seem still empirical - testifies of a perfectible influence of the fundamental rights, and improvements were envisaged at the internal and european level