The Protection of Private Ownership Rights in the ECHR and Norwegian Planning and Building Law

Abstract

An issue of practical importance is what requirements the European Court of Human Rights places on the national legislator, courts, and, perhaps particularly, the public administration itself, with regard to the citizen's ability to foresee his legal status in cases concerning public land-use management. In this article, cases from the European Court of Human Rights are examined in relation to how similar problems are handled under the Norwegian Planning and Building Act, in Norwegian case law and in administrative practice. The article analyses and discusses both the protection of the right to utilisation and the right to prevent activity that negatively affect the landowner. The case selection from the European Court of Human Rights primarily focuses on cases concerning European jurisdictions that are natural to include in a comparative analysis, such as Sweden, the United Kingdom and Spain.