The European Court of Human Rights’ Case Law on the Rights of Judges in the cee States – Towards A Rule of Law Standard?

Abstract

Abstract Recent examples from the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union show that judicial independence across Europe is still under stress in certain countries. In the last four years, a rich body of jurisprudence has been developed by the ECtHR around the rights of judges: right to a fair trial, right to privacy, freedom of expression, right to liberty and security. These cases comprise a vital component of the rule of law references by the Strasbourg Court, which became more willing to include the protection of the rights of the members of the judiciary in the Convention’s application sphere. The attacks against judicial independence at the origin of these cases are diverse, and there is no unique recipe for how to respond. The article posits that this jurisprudence can become one of the criteria to assess a state’s compliance with the rule of law requirements. However, the results still depend too much on the political will of the states concerned.