Provide an understanding of the institutional structure of the European Court of Human Rights and admissibility of complaints. Students will be able to critically analyse the developments in case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

Provide an understanding of key doctrinal concepts adopted by the European Court of Human Rights.

Provide an introduction to substantive rights, such as right to life, prohibition of torture and degrading treatment, prohibition of slavery, right to privacy and freedom of religion.

(LO1) At the end of the module students will be able to identify, define and critically analyse the core doctrinal concepts of the European Court of Human Rights and substantive concepts of the ECHR.

(LO2) At the end of the module students will be able to demonstrate an advanced understanding of the themes and trends in the case law.

(LO3) At the end of the module students will be able to apply rules and standards of ECHR law to real life situations.

(LO4) At the end of the module students will be able to develop critical understanding of approaches to interpretation of the Convention.

(S1) Problem solving skills

(S2) Adaptability

(S3) Communication skills

(S4) Critical Thinking

Topics to be covered will include all or most of the following:

General introduction

Admissibility of complaints

Interpretation: Evolutive interpretation and margin of appreciation

Interpretation: European consensus, autonomous interpretation and proportionality

Right to life Prohibition of torture

Prohibition of slavery and forced labour

Right to privacy I

Right to privacy II

Freedom of religion.

Teaching Pattern

The module consists of lectures (1 hour long), seminars (1.5 hour long) and drop-in sessions (2 hour long). The lectures are one hour long as the serve starting points for the students’ independent learning. Normally one lecture looks at one Article of the European Convention on Human Rights and provide with the core case law which the students are expected to use as foundation for further research on these articles.

Module Delivery
Lectures are delivered interactively and allow ample time for questions. So, there will be 9 substantive lectures and 2 revision lectures.

There will be 4 seminars. Each of them will be 1.5 hours long. All seminars will look at a substantive issue of the Law of the European Convention on Human Rights.

There will be 2 drop-in sessions where the students can ask any questions on the material that was discussed during semester. These drop-ins are the combination between small group and individual consola tions.