The Interaction Between National Protection of Human Rights and the ECtHR

The jurisprudence of the Convention organs has had a historic influence on the legal systems of Western European Member States. These States have accepted judicial review of legislation through the Convention organs and many have introduced judicial review of legislation on the basis of constitutional or similar instruments. The case law of the Convention organs has contributed to strengthening judicial review of administrative decisions where it did not or not fully exist before. The guarantees of an open democratic process, in particular concerning freedom of expression have been strengthened or introduced into legal systems where they did not have the same rank before. The principle of proportionality for State interference with individual rights has been introduced in all Member States. In that respect Convention law and European Community law have been of equal importance. One may even come to the conclusion that Convention law has influenced the legal systems of Member States in a more dramatic way than has European Union law. However, this is not always fully noticed, not even by lawyers.