UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN

Faculty of Law

Associate Professor and Vice Dean for Education, dr. Bjørnar Borvik, PhD

March, 6, 2017

SYLLABUS: Introduction to European Civil and Political Human Rights

Lecturer: Associate Professor and Vice Dean for Education, dr. Bjørnar Borvik, PhD, email:

Recommended reading: Jacobs, White & Ovey, The European Convention on Human Rights, Sixth Edition, Bernadette Rainey, Elizabeth Wicks, and Clare Ovey, Oxford University Press 2014 (ISBN 978-0-19-965508-3), 331 pages. In addition, students should read judgments from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). All judgments from the ECtHR are available on internet: hudoc.echr.coe.int. A brief introduction to the search engine HUDOC will be given early in the course.

Required reading: It is expected that the students will prepare to each lecture by reading selected pages from the textbook mentioned above, and selected judgments from the ECtHR, as this will enhance the students' learning outcome. The students will be provided with a detailed reading list at the beginning of the first class.

Purpose: In this course the students are introduced to the complex system for protection of human rights in Europe, both at the national and the international level. However, the main emphasis is put on the Council of Europe's system for protecting civil and political rights – the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), its historical background, and the case-law from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (ECtHR), in which the more detailed content of the protected rights is clarified. Institutional and procedural characteristics of the enforcement machinery of the Council of Europe will be outlined. The interpretation methodology of the ECtHR will be introduced, as well as the provisions for limiting the protected civil and political rights. In addition, several substantive provisions in the ECHR will be presented: One of them is absolute, that is the prohibition of torture. Other provisions contain relative rights, that is the protection of personal liberty and security, the procedural rights in civil and criminal cases, the protection of freedom of expression, and finally the protection of property. These rights have to be balanced against societal interests and/or conflicting human rights.

Class formate: Lectures, class discussions and case-law analysis.

Day / Topic / Reading material
March, 10, 2 – 5 pm / General introduction to the protection of human rights in Europe. Historical background
March, 13, 2 – 4 pm / Rule of Law and the Judiciary as a guard of human rights protection. ECtHR: Institutional and procedural issues. The supervision system / Recommended reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey pp. 21-64. 44 pages.
Required reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey, pp. 31-45 and 55-62.
March, 13, 6 – 8 pm / General introduction to the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Reservations and derogations. Absolute rights, misuse clauses, and limitation clauses / Recommended reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey pp. 65-84, 107-126 and 307-333. 67 pages
Required reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey pp. 73-81, 112-120, 307-315, and 324-325.
Garaudy v. France, ECtHR admissibility decision, 24 June 2003 (appl. no. 65831/01), pp. 20-24.
March, 17, 2 – 5 pm / Prohibition of torture (Article 3) / Recommended reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey pp. 169-197. 29 pages.
Required reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey pp. 169-176.
El-Masri v. the former Y. R. of M., ECtHR judgment, 13 December 2012 (appl. no. 39630/09), paragraphs 169-172, and 180-234.
March, 20, 2 – 5 pm / Personal liberty and security (Article 5) / Recommended reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey pp. 213-246. 34 pages.
Required reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey pp. 213-219, and 225-229.
Austin and Others v. the United Kingdom, ECtHR judgment, 15 March 2012 (appl. nos. 39692/09, 40713/09 and 41008/09), paragraphs 10-14, and 52-69.
April, 17, 2 – 5 pm / Right to a fair trial in civil and criminal cases (Article 6) / Recommended reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey pp. 247-306. 60 pages.
Required reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey pp. 247-257, and 263-268.
Barbera, Messegue and Jabardo v. Spain, ECtHR judgment, 6 December 1988 (application no. 10590/83), paragraphs 8-35, and 53-89.
April, 21, 9 – 11.30 am / Freedom of expression
(Article 10) / Recommended reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey pp. 435-463. 29 pages.
Required reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey pp. 435-440, and 444-451.
Von Hannover v. Germany (No. 2), ECtHR judgment, 7 February 2012 (appl. nos. 40660/08 and 60641/08), paragraphs 10-20, 74, and 95-126.
April, 21, 2 – 4.30 pm / Protection of property (Article 1 of the First Protocol to ECHR) / Recommended reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey pp. 492-519. 28 pages.
Required reading:
Jacobs, White & Ovey pp. 492-494, 496-497, 503-507, and 514-517.
Sporrong and Lönnroth v. Sweden, ECtHR judgment, 23 September 1982 (appl. nos. 7151/75 and 7152/75), paragraphs 9-30, and 56-74.
To be announced / Exam