National University of Ireland, Galway
School of Law
EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS
LW385 – 2BA1, 3BA6, 4BA8, 1EM1, 1OA1, 2BL1, 2BL2, 3BL1,
3BL2, 4BL2, 2CW1, 3CW1, 4CW2, 1OL1
1ML2, 1ML3, 2ML3, 1ML6, 1ML7, 1ML10, 1ML11, 2ML11, 1ML15, 1ML16,
2ML16
Semester 2, 2014-2015
Lecturer: Professor Donncha O’Connell, TB407
Extension 2388, e-mail: donncha.oconnell@nuigalway.ie
Course objectives
The principal focus of this course is the European Convention for the
Protection of Human Rights & Fundamental Freedoms, 1950 (ECHR) but
some attention is also paid to the European Social Charter and the EU Charter
on Fundamental Rights. The course is taught in Semester 2 on the B.A., B.C.L.
and LL.B programmes. It is also offered to Visiting Students. In 2014-2015 it
will be available to students taking the LL.M in Human Rights at the Irish
Centre for Human Rights and some provision by way of supplementary
seminars will be made for those students.
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights, 1948 has spawned various
regional systems for the protection of human rights. The system established
under the European Convention on Human Rights, 1950 is widely considered
to be one of the most successful of these (by contrast to the African and InterAmerican systems) although serious concerns are also raised as to whether it
is now a victim of its earlier success.
In this course we will take a critical look at the jurisprudence of the European
Court of Human Rights but the “Strasbourg system”, so-called, will also be
viewed from a wider perspective. Thus, we will consider some of the other
instruments that guide the work of the Council of Europe, such as the
European Social Charter and the European Convention for the Prevention of
Torture (CPT). We will examine the interface between these international
instruments and domestic law. This will be particularly interesting in the case
of Ireland which, in 2003 (fifty years following ratification), gave further effect
to or ‘incorporated’ the European Convention on Human Rights into
domestic law.
An emerging area of interest is the role of fundamental rights in the European
Union. While this topic is covered in greater detail in courses on EU Law we
will look at the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights as well as some human
rights issues considered by the European Court of Justice and the extent to
which that Court uses the ECHR. We will also consider the pending accession
by the EU to the ECHR.
Core textbooks and other reading materials:

Rainey, Wicks & Ovey, Jacobs, White & Ovey: The European Convention
on Human Rights (6th edition), (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Harris, O’Boyle, Bates & Buckley (eds), Harris, O’Boyle & Warbrick: Law
of the European Convention on Human Rights (2nd edition), (Oxford
University Press, 2009).

Janis, Kay & Bradley, European Human Rights Law: Text and Materials,
(3rd Edition), (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Mowbray, Cases and Materials on the European Convention on Human
Rights, (2nd edition) (OUP, 2007).

Van Dijk, van Hoof, van Rijn & Zwaak (eds), Theory and Practice of the
European Convention on Human Rights, (4th edition) (Intersentia, 2006).
The following three monographs are of direct relevance to Ireland and the
ECHR:

De Londras & Kelly, European Convention on Human Rights Act:
Operation, Impact and Analysis, (Round Hall, 2010).

Kilkelly (ed), ECHR & Irish Law, (2nd edition) (Jordans, 2008).

O’Connell, Cummiskey & Meeneghan with O’Connell, ECHR Act 2003:
A Preliminary Assessment of Impact (Law Society of Ireland & Dublin
Solicitors’ Bar Association, 2006).
There are other books on particular aspects of the Convention and on human
rights in general which may occasionally be referred to as the course
progresses. In particular some reference will be made to the following books:

Gearty & Douzinas (eds), The Cambridge Companion to Human Rights
Law, (Cambridge University Press, 2013).

Brems (ed), Diversity and European Human Rights: Rewriting Judgments of
the ECHR, (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

Christoffersen & Rask Madsen (eds), The European Court of Human
Rights Between Law and Politics, (Oxford University Press, 2011).

Martinico & Pollicino (eds), The National Judicial Treatment of the ECHR
and EU Laws: A Comparative Constitutional Perspective, (Europa Law
Publishing, 2010).

Keller & Stone Sweet (eds), A Europe of Rights: The Impact of the ECHR
on National Legal Systems (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Letsas, A Theory of Interpretation of the European Convention on Human
Rights, (Oxford University Press, paperback version published in 2009).

Greer, The European Convention on Human Rights: Achievements, Problems
and Prospects (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

Moyn, The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History, (The Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press, 2010).

Gearty, Can Human Rights Survive? (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

Blackburn & Polakiewicz, Fundamental Rights in Europe, (Oxford
University Press, 2001).

Dickson (ed), Human Rights and the European Convention, (Sweet &
Maxwell, 1997).

Gearty (ed), European Civil Liberties and the European Convention on
Human Rights, (Kluwer Law International, 1997).
Reports, journals and other sources
The Council of Europe has a very good website (www.coe.int/) which
contains all judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and, indeed,
older decisions and reports of the European Commission on Human Rights
that can be accessed through the HUDOC facility on the webpage of the
Court.
These reports are also available in hardcopy– in Series A (published by the
Council of Europe) and in the privately published European Human Rights
Reports (EHRR).
The Council of Europe website is also a very useful source of general
documentation produced by the Council and its various organs including the
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (www.cpt.coe.int/).
The following three blogs are recommended:
 www.echrblog.blogspot.com
 www.strasbourgobservers.com
 www.humanrights.ie
All of the usual law journals and periodicals (European and international)
contain articles of interest and use for this course but particular attention
should be paid to the following:
 European Human Rights Law Review (EHRLR)
 Human Rights Law Journal (HRLJ)
 European Public Law (EPL)
In terms of the domestic significance of ECHR (and other International Law)
standards there is now a growing body of publications being produced by the
Irish Human Rights Commission with authoritative legal interpretations that
are well worth reading. These can be accessed via: www.ihrc.ie/ pending the
development of a new website for the Irish Human Rights & Equality
Commission (IHREC).
Class times and venue
This subject will be taught by lectures only. While no formal tutorials will
take place additional revision classes or guest lectures may be organised
outside the following times:

5-7pm, Tuesdays, Larmor Theatre.
As stated above, supplementary seminars will be arranged for the LL.M
students taking this module.
Mode of examination
This subject is examined by means of two-hour written examination at the
end of Semester 2. Further details regarding the examination – including
advisory sessions – will be provided at a later stage. A different mode of
assessment will apply for the LL.M students consistent with the assessment
modes used in the Irish Centre for Human Rights.
Course Outline – the prescribed reading for each topic is included in
Powerpoint and other materials uploaded on a weekly basis on Blackboard
Topic 1:
The “regionalisation” of human rights protection after World War II.
Comparison between the European system and other regional systems such
as the African and Inter-American systems.
Topic 2:
How the ECHR system works. Practice and Procedure in individual
applications. Admissibility criteria. Introduction to basic jurisprudential
doctrines and techniques of interpretation used by the European Court of
Human Rights. Reform of the ECHR system.
Topic 3:
Thematic review of the case law under the substantive provisions of the
ECHR (this topic will cover most of the lectures for this course):
 Article 2 – The Right to Life
 Article 3 – Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (including the role of the CPT)
 Articles 5-7 – Liberty / Due Process (or fair trial) Rights
 Articles 8 & 12 – Privacy and Family Rights
 Articles 9-11 – Thought, Conscience, Religion, Expression, Assembly
and Association Rights
 Article 13 – Effective Remedies
 Article 14 and new Protocol 12 – Non-Discrimination
 Other protocols to the Convention
Topic 4:
The status of the ECHR in Irish law – procedural, and substantive issues. The
European Convention on Human Rights Act, 2003 – impact to date and future
prospects.
Topic 5:
European Social Charter and the protection of social and economic rights
under the Council of Europe system.
Topic 6:
The European Union and Fundamental Rights.