Foreword
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 July 2009
Summary
The European Convention on Human Rights, the case law of the Strasbourg institutions and the degree of success with which, for all its problems, the Convention system has met in ensuring respect for fundamental rights in Council of Europe member states are subjects that have attracted much comment and analysis. To this great mass of scholarship, Professor Greer brings a work that stands out in several respects. This is neither a handbook nor a textbook. It is instead a thoroughgoing argument for the constitutionalization of the Convention and its Court, which the author portrays not as a transformation but rather as consolidation. This book comes at a particularly crucial moment for the Convention system. While its history is in fact one of continuous growth, adaptation and reform, the stakes for Europe and its human rights protection system have never been higher. In the matter of fundamental rights, the Strasbourg Court is positioned at the apex of all the national judicial systems in Europe with just one exception. Its ability to function effectively, i.e. to rule authoritatively on the Convention and to administer justice to those who come before it is vital not just to the Strasbourg strand, but to the whole web of institutions and procedures that uphold and enforce the substance of the Convention throughout the espace juridique européen.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The European Convention on Human RightsAchievements, Problems and Prospects, pp. xiii - xivPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006