The Court has put a new case-law guide online on its website. The new guide deals with Article 18 ECHR which concerns limitation on the use of restrictions on rights. The article provides:
“The restrictions permitted under [the] Convention to the said rights and freedoms shall not be applied for any purpose other than those for which they have been prescribed.”
It has become topical in a number of cases of the past few years, after having been “dormant” for much of its existence. Since the article deals with the “misapplication” of power by state authorities( according to the Convention’s travaux préparatoires), it could be seen as a litmus test for deep rule of law problems. Thus, the increased jurisprudential attention to this provision is telling in itself. See, for example, the Grand Chamber judgment in Merabishvili v Georgia of November 2017 in which the Court found a violation of Article 18.
The Case-law Guides series reflect the Court’s major judgments, organised by Convention article. The reviews of the case-law are regularly updated and translated into other languages.
