Tutorial Week 2: Scope of Fundamental Rights in Europe
In this week’s tutorial, we take as a case study the application of human rights to climate change,
including climate activism. We zoom in on when human rights apply (scope of application), who can
appeal to these rights (personal scope) and what sorts of interests they serve (material scope). We
also probe a little deeper into the interaction of the ECHR, the EU and the domestic legal orders. We
do this by addressing the Bosphorus presumption, a doctrine which determines how a Member
State of the EU is bound by the ECHR when it acts on the basis of EU law. We also exercise with
some of the learning aims of last week (legal effect of EU law and the ECHR in the domestic legal
orders, relationship EU-ECHR). After this week, you must be able to (learning aims):
• Explain the concepts of scope of application, material scope and personal scope
• Determine when Member States are bound by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article
51 Charter, scope of EU law)
• Determine when States are bound by the ECHR (Article 1 ECHR, jurisdiction)
• Establish the material scope and the personal scope of a fundamental right in relation to a
concrete situation
• Explain and apply the Bosphorus presumption in a case-solving question
Literature:
• Jacobs, White, and Ovey, The European Convention on Human Rights, OUP, 2020, Chapter 4,
pp. 75-80, 84-85, 91-102 (on Canvas);
• Robert Schütze, An Introduction to European Law, OUP, 2020, Chapter 6, pp. 135-137 and
143-145 (on Canvas);
,
In this week’s tutorial, we take as a case study the application of human rights to climate change,
including climate activism. We zoom in on when human rights apply (scope of application), who can
appeal to these rights (personal scope) and what sorts of interests they serve (material scope). We
also probe a little deeper into the interaction of the ECHR, the EU and the domestic legal orders. We
do this by addressing the Bosphorus presumption, a doctrine which determines how a Member
State of the EU is bound by the ECHR when it acts on the basis of EU law. We also exercise with
some of the learning aims of last week (legal effect of EU law and the ECHR in the domestic legal
orders, relationship EU-ECHR). After this week, you must be able to (learning aims):
• Explain the concepts of scope of application, material scope and personal scope
• Determine when Member States are bound by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article
51 Charter, scope of EU law)
• Determine when States are bound by the ECHR (Article 1 ECHR, jurisdiction)
• Establish the material scope and the personal scope of a fundamental right in relation to a
concrete situation
• Explain and apply the Bosphorus presumption in a case-solving question
Literature:
• Jacobs, White, and Ovey, The European Convention on Human Rights, OUP, 2020, Chapter 4,
pp. 75-80, 84-85, 91-102 (on Canvas);
• Robert Schütze, An Introduction to European Law, OUP, 2020, Chapter 6, pp. 135-137 and
143-145 (on Canvas);
,
