role of european court of hr

• protocal 11 - ecthr became a full time court - simplified procedure to deal with backlog of cases
• protocol 14 - came into forcce 2010 - to make protocol 11 more effective
• 47 members
• the members elect judges who serve for 9 years
• 47 full time judges
• judges are chosen for independance and high moral charcter
• judges can be removed if not fufiling duties
• must retire at 70
• a single judge can decide if case is admissible
• if it is a repetitive claim - case will be decided by 3 judges 0 called a commitee
• if not a repetitive claim will use a chamber of judges - 7 judges
• if a serious issue of judicial importance - use the grand chamber - 17 judges
• grand chamber - deals with issues where the committee of ministers finds that a state is not abiding by a judgement they can get judgement enforced
• case can be brought to ecthr by an indiviual after they have tried to resolve the case in their domestic courts
• ecthr interprets the convention right and how interpreted by member state
• interprets right and decides there has been a violation - ecthr must decide if a state can pay damages
• s2 hra - courts must consider decisions of ecthr where relevant - follow own precedent then appeal if conflicting
• decisions of ecthr do not automatically become uk law
• ecthr does not have to interpret legal terms the same way that a member state does - they have complete autonomy when interpreting words
• rights in convention are called negative rights - tell state not to do certain things
• ecthr interprets negative rights as positive obligations - take action to prevent violations from occuring
• living instrument - ecthr is not bound by precedent - interpret the convention in a way that develops rights in light of changing social attitudes
• proportionatality and margin of appreciation - applied to decide if there has been a violation
• margin of apreciaiton - discretion given to each state
• proportionatality - if interference strikes a fair balence