Access to Court v State Immunity

Abstract

This comment discusses three recent judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in the cases ofMcElhinney v Ireland, Al-Adsani v UK,andFogarty v UK. All three applications concerned the dismissal by the courts of the respondent States of claims against a third State on the ground of that State's immunity from suit. They thus raised important questions about the relation the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention)—especially the right to a fair trial and access to court enshrined in Arcticle 6(1)—and the law of State immunity.