The multilevel protection of the right of property in Europe

Abstract

Within the European legal area, the safeguard of the right to property takes place at the interface between international law, EU law and each national legal system. Each of these laws has its own scope of application and level of protection, which partially differs from those of the others, as well as its own supreme jurisdiction which seeks for itself the final word in the field of human rights law. This complex background raises questions concerning the law applicable to interferences in the relevant rights, as well as the terms of the interaction among legal orders and their respective supreme courts, in a context of dialogue and potential conflict that requires consistent articulation in a system in the interest of legal certainty of the right’s holders. This paper provides an overview of the current constitutional system of protection of the right to property in Europe against interferences caused in its sphere by public authorities, both national (and subnational) or European. To that end, this article considers both the legal pluralism perspective along with the need for a systematic scheme of relations between legal orders.