Monday, December 29, 2014

Seibert-Fohr & Villiger: Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights - Effects and Implementation

Anja Seibert-Fohr (Member, UN Human Rights Committee; Georg-August-Universität Göttingen - Law) & Mark E. Villiger (Judge, European Court of Human Rights; Univ. of Zurich - Law) have published Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights - Effects and Implementation (Ashgate/Nomos 2014). Here's the abstract:

This volume, published in December 2014, deals with the domestic effects of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights as a challenge to the various levels of legal orders in Europe. The starting point is the divergent impact of the ECtHR’s jurisdiction within the Convention States. The volume seeks new methods of orientation at the various legal levels, given the fact that the Strasbourg case law is increasingly important for most areas of society. Topical tendencies in the case law of the Court are highlighted and discussed against the background of the principle of subsidiarity.

The book includes a detailed analysis of the scope, reach, consequences and implementation of the Court’s judgments and of the issue of concomitant damages. At the same time the volume deals with the role of domestic jurisdictions in implementing the ECtHR’s judgments. Distinguished Judges, legal academics and practitioners from various Council of Europe States are among the contributors to this volume, which succeeds in bringing divergent points of view into the discussion and in developing strategies for conflict resolution.

The book first assesses the binding effects of ECtHR judgments (Part II) and the scope and reach of damages (Part III). Both these aspects determine to what extent further action is required by national authorities. Subsequently, various contributions evaluate the competences of the ECtHR and national institutions respectively by considering the principle of subsidiarity (Part IV) and the role domestic courts play in implementing ECtHR judgments (Part V). Finally, suggestions are made for the future roles of the ECtHR and domestic courts in implementation (Part VI).

Contributors are, inter alia, the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Dean Spielmann, the judges of the Court Angelika Nußberger, Julia Laffranque and Linos-Alexander Sicilianos as well as the high-level national judges Sabino Cassese, Jacek Chlebny, Péter Kovács, Lord Justice Laws and Andreas Paulus.