‘The Concept of Precedent at the European Court for Human Rights and Nation-al Responses to the Doctrine With Special Reference to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia’
in: Harmonisation of Serbian and Hungarian Law with the European Union Law, vol. VI, Faculty of Law Novi Sad Publishing Center: Novi Sad, pp. 223-240, 2018
19 Pages Posted: 6 Jan 2020
Date Written: 2018
Abstract
This article tends to outline the scope and effect of the doctrine of precedent at the European Court of Human Rights. The overview starts with the concept of precedent in general international law and before international courts which engineered the concept of de facto precedent. The evidence show that the European Court of Human Rights adopted the very same concept of de facto precedent on the grounds of legal certainty and stability and not as a matter of legal obligation. This article argues that the European Court, in addition to adopting the general trend on de facto precedent, has also devised its special concepts and doctrines of precedent in the form of pilot judgments and the concept “well-established case-law” under Article 28(1)b of the Convention. The article concludes with the analysis of the Constitutional Court case law in relation to the binding effect of the European Court of Human Rights judgments.
Keywords: doctrine of precedent, de facto precedent, pilot judgment procedure, “well-established case-law”
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