4 - The Function of the European Court of Human Rights

Summary

This monograph aims to establish whether the European Court of Human Rights (the ECtHR or the Court) can effectively shape European public order. The Court claims that the European Convention on Human Rights (the ECHR or the Convention) is the constitutional instrument of European public order; since the Court is the sole official interpreter of the Convention, it is implied that the Court’s role is to build European public order. Moreover, some ECtHR judges in their dissenting opinions or extrajudicial writing have suggested just that. The present chapter examines whether this is indeed the case, that is, whether the regulation of European public order is one of the functions that the ECtHR has been entrusted with and what this function might entail.