ARTICLE 6(1) OF THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION AND THE CURATIVE POWERS OF JUDICIAL REVIEW

Abstract

The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms makes no mention of any right to procedural justice in the making of administrative decisions. Any protection for such rights must be found in Article 6(1) which provides that in the determination of their “civil rights and obligations … everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law”. But Article 6(1) was originally intended to apply to the determination of private law rights only and not to public law matters (see Le Compte, Van Leuven and De Meyere v. Belgium (1981) 4 E.H.R.R. 1, 36 (Sir Vincent Evans, dissenting); Konig v. Germany (1978) 2 E.H.R.R. 170 (Matscher J., dissenting)). The article plainly envisages judicial proceedings, and there are obvious difficulties in applying it straightforwardly to administrative proceedings.