Apology of Freedom

Book review: Nussberger A. The European Court of Human Rights. Оxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.

The subject of this review is the book written by a famous German legal scholar, Angelika Nussberger, whose name is well known to the Russian legal academic community. Professor Nussberger was a judge in respect of Germany at the European Court of Human Rights from 2011 to 2019, and Vice-President of the Court in 2017–2019. The book, published in Oxford University Press, is a part of their series “Elements of International Law”, which explains its structure and comprehensive approach to the subject. The book embraces all important relevant topics of the Court’s activities, from its conception and the beginning of its activities as an optional jurisdiction up to its transformation to the most authoritative international court in the area of human rights protection. Special attention is paid to the Court’s role in the creation of human rights culture in Europe and worldwide. Other topics covered by the book include its organization and procedure before the Court; the evolution of the Court’s methodology; interaction with other «actors» on human rights law field (national and other international courts); enforcement of the Court’s judgments and its efficiency; the Court’s future: main challenges and perspectives. The book offers a very focused and concentrated narrative combined with a deep analysis and very personal sight of a judge at the Court and of a distinguished scholar. It may serve as a very useful source of information about the Court’s judicial doctrines, vividly discussed by the ECtHR observers. The author gives her own view on these doctrines and reveals many problematic aspects of their application by the Court. The book is abundant in illustrations how the doctrines in question have evolved. The special character of the book is that it combines the overview of the Court’s procedure (composition of the bench, the Registry’s tasks, interaction with the Committee of Ministers related to the execution of judgments) with the analysis of the Court’s role in the modern international law development. It distinguishes the book from other works on the Convention and the European Court of Human Rights. The extensive list of references on the Court and the Convention system makes the book a perfect guide on the matter for specialists and students. It may be concluded that the book will enter the «golden fund» of international law doctrine, and its translation into Russian would be very useful for the Russian legal audience.

About the author: Maria Filatova – Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D.) in Law, Associate Professor, Head of the Laboratory of International Justice, International Law Department, Faculty of Law, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.

Citation: Filatova M. (2021) Apologiya svobody: Retsenziya na knigu: Nussberger A. European Court of Human Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020 [Apology of Freedom: Book review: Nussberger A. The European Court of Human Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020]. Mezhdunarodnoe pravosudie, vol.11, no.1, pp.153–163. (In Russian).

References

Costa J.-P. (2013) La Cour Européenne des droits de l’homme: des juges pour la liberté, Paris: Dalloz.

Kovler A.I. (2019) Evropeyskaya Konventsiya v mezhdunarodnoy sisteme zashchity prav cheloveka: monografiya [European Convention in the international system of human rights protection: a monograph], Moscow: Institut zakonodatel'stva i sravnitel'nogo pravovedeniya pri Pravitel'stve Rossiyskoy Federatsii: Norma: INFRA-M. (In Russian).

Kovler A.I. (2019) Evropeyskaya Konventsiya: problemy tolkovaniya i implementatsii: monografiya [European Convention: problems of interpretation and implementation: a monograph], Moscow: Institut zakonodatel'stva i sravnitel'nogo pravovedeniya pri Pravitel'stve Rossiyskoy Federatsii: Norma: INFRA-M. (In Russian).

Nussberger A. (2020) The European Court of Human Rights, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wildhaber L. (2006) The European Court of Human Rights, 1998–2006: History, Achievements, Reform, Kehl: N.P.Engel.