Informed decision-making: the comparative endeavours of the Strasbourg Court

Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou and Vasily Lukashevich

Abstract

The article explores the use of comparative surveys in judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). It argues that the inclusion of a comparative survey serves an informational purpose that may increase the substantive legitimacy of ECtHR rulings. The article aims to provide a broad, however preliminary account of the use of comparative data by focusing on a number of pertinent doctrinal, methodological, and practical issues.

Keywords: comparative law; decision-making process; European Court of Human Rights; interpretation; judicial reasoning

Dr. Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou, MA (Sussex), PhD (UCD). Lecturer in law (University of Surrey), Această adresă de email este protejată contra spambots. Trebuie să activați JavaScript pentru a o vedea..

Vasily Lukashevich, lawyer in the European Court of Human Rights, LLM in Comparative Constitutional Law, SJD Candidate in Comparative Constitutional Law (Central European University, Budapest, Hungary), Această adresă de email este protejată contra spambots. Trebuie să activați JavaScript pentru a o vedea..

All opinions expressed by the authors are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Court of Human Rights.

The authors would like to acknowledge support of Lech Garlicki, Francoise Tulkens, Jan Šikuta, Corneliu Birsan, Dean Spielmann, Bostjan Zupančič, Anatoly Kovler, and Michael O'Boyle, as well as the assistance of Anna Austin, Graeme Hall and Dr. Brian Flanagan.

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Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Vol. 30/3, 272–298, 2012.

© Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), Printed in the Netherlands.