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Conscience and Love in Making Judicial Decisions pp 205–230Cite as

Sympathy Judgements of Conscience in the European Court of Human Rights

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Part of the book series: Law and Philosophy Library ((LAPS,volume 54))

Abstract

The activity of the European Court of Human Rights is one of the areas of law where sympathy judgements of conscience can be traced comparatively easily. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, human rights law itself already presupposes a greater role for moral ideas and values compared with such fields of law as tax law, local government law and so on. Unlike ‘technical’ branches of law, human rights law defies detailed regulation. Secondly, the broad language of the European Convention of Human Rights which the Court applies, is not precise, and leaves much to the interpretative skills of the judges. Whether the judges want it or not, they have to pass some moral judgements in order to determine the scope, limits and applicability of human rights. Thirdly, the judges of the Court represent all variety of legal and moral cultures from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Each country which has signed the Convention bears different moral cultures which can and do affect the vision of human rights. A judge who was brought up somewhere in the spaces of the former Soviet Union may differ significantly from a judge from the West. A judge educated in the Common law tradition may differ even more from a judge educated in the Civil law tradition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Law, Stavropol State University, Stavropol, Russia

    Alexander Nikolaevich Shytov (Senior Lecturer, Special Lecturer)

  2. Commercial Law and Ethics, Mae Jo University, Chiang Mai, Thailand

    Alexander Nikolaevich Shytov (Senior Lecturer, Special Lecturer)

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  1. Alexander Nikolaevich Shytov
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© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Shytov, A.N. (2001). Sympathy Judgements of Conscience in the European Court of Human Rights. In: Conscience and Love in Making Judicial Decisions. Law and Philosophy Library, vol 54. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9745-6_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9745-6_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5889-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-015-9745-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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