Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

Adherence to the European Human Rights Convention' has created a hierarchical system for the protection of basic human rights in Western Europe. Under its terms the European Commission and Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, exercise authoritative supervision over the human rights-related activities of the legislative, executive, administrative and judicial authorities of the Convention's States Parties, the twenty-one Member States of the Council of Europe.

This article offers an analysis of the national margin of appreciation doctrine as a tool in the evolution of the scope of the supervisory power assigned to the Convention's international organs, and examines the doctrine's relationship to the States Parties' obligations under the treaty. The study focuses upon the development of the doctrine from its origins in Commission case law on derogation from the Convention under article 15, to the Court's recent pronouncements in its role as the ultimate interpreter of the law of the Convention. It addresses the process by which the central authorities within the treaty system decide upon the scope of their own supervisory powers, and consequently upon the scope of the discretion that will remain vested in the national authorities for the definition, interpretation and application of the basic human rights guarantees contained in the treaty. The case law discussion is not meant to be exhaustive, but illustrative of different approaches the Strasbourg judicial organs may take in defining the breadth of their own power.

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