Table of Contents
The United States...............................................................................................................2
Bill of Rights.......................................................................................................................2
The right to privacy............................................................................................................2
Equality..............................................................................................................................4
Due process........................................................................................................................4
Freedom of expression........................................................................................................5
Germany............................................................................................................................5
UK......................................................................................................................................7
France................................................................................................................................9
Declaration and preamble of 1946......................................................................................9
Fundamental principles....................................................................................................11
Netherlands......................................................................................................................11
Chapter 1 Constitution......................................................................................................11
Art. 120 Dutch Constitution..............................................................................................11
Constitution and ECHR......................................................................................................11
Limitations.......................................................................................................................13
The European Union.........................................................................................................13
Four freedoms, ECHR and constitutional principles...........................................................13
EU-charter........................................................................................................................13
European human rights landscape....................................................................................15
EU Charter substance........................................................................................................15
European Human Rights...................................................................................................17
ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights)................................................................17
European Court of Human Rights......................................................................................19
Admissibility of individual petitions..................................................................................21
Council of Europe..............................................................................................................21
The ECHR, the European Union and the National Constitutions.........................................21
Assession (EU institutions)................................................................................................23
,The United States
Bill of Rights
List of fundamental rights is laid down in the Constitution (Bill of Rights), the first
ten amendments of the Constitution, with some later additions
Purpose
entitle the citizens the relevant fundamental rights protection vis-à-vis the federal
legislature and executive (Amendment 1: ‘Congress shall make no law…’)
binds the states in their relationship to individuals (through the 14th Amendment
and the ensuing case law of the Supreme Court)
th
The 14 Amendment
added after the end of the Civil War
addressed to the states and the phrase that the states are instructed to respect
the due process of law is interpreted by the Supreme Court as to include respect
for the federal Bill of Rights (‘nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty,
or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws’)
The post-civil War
non-discrimination and equality guarantees
due process (fair treatment through the normal judicial system, especially a
citizen's entitlement to notice of a charge and a hearing before an impartial judge)
Case law has focused extensively on the first amendment (free speech, freedom of
religion and separation between state and religion)
Open formulation of rights and principles
the courts have been asked frequently to elaborate on the precise content,
meaning and application of the relatively open formulated freedoms and
principles
Supreme Court’s case law are the preponderance (emphasis/ importance) of
free speech with a focus on a broad protection of public speech
the notion of cruel and unusual punishment (as part of a debate about the
permissibility of capital punishment)
the development by the Supreme Court in the second half of the twentieth
century of fair trial and due process guarantees
the case law about privacy
the right to have an abortion
under the non-discrimination clause the right of gay marriage
Miranda Warning
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to
an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you
understand the rights I have just read to you?
The right to privacy
How to interpret the Constitution?
, Original Dynamic
interpretation interpretation
a court adjust a
a Constitution must be
constitutional text with
interpreted according to
open formulations to
the intentions of the
modern day
framers
circumstances and needs
restrain
activist
t
courts that start from the Courts which leave a
assumption to respect the legislature a small margin of
will of the lawmaker, unless appreciation and which
it acts manifestly impose their interpretation
unreasonable or arbitrary upon the lawmakers
Griswold v. Connecticut (recognition of privacy)
Facts of the case
the freedom to use anti-conceptives
Holding
the Supreme Court ‘discovered’ a right to privacy
this is part of an individual’s privacy and that such a right to privacy (which is
absent in explicit words in the Bill of Rights) is a constitutional right since it may
derived from the constitutional text
its emanations such as the protection of the home, as a fundamental right and
principle
Roe v. Wade (ensue freedom to have an abortion)
the Supreme Court took as a next step the recognition of the freedom to have an
abortion
The constitutional struggle about the wisdom of this judgment and about the
freedom of the states to still being able to control and regulate (limit) abortion has
remained an issue ever since
The United States...............................................................................................................2
Bill of Rights.......................................................................................................................2
The right to privacy............................................................................................................2
Equality..............................................................................................................................4
Due process........................................................................................................................4
Freedom of expression........................................................................................................5
Germany............................................................................................................................5
UK......................................................................................................................................7
France................................................................................................................................9
Declaration and preamble of 1946......................................................................................9
Fundamental principles....................................................................................................11
Netherlands......................................................................................................................11
Chapter 1 Constitution......................................................................................................11
Art. 120 Dutch Constitution..............................................................................................11
Constitution and ECHR......................................................................................................11
Limitations.......................................................................................................................13
The European Union.........................................................................................................13
Four freedoms, ECHR and constitutional principles...........................................................13
EU-charter........................................................................................................................13
European human rights landscape....................................................................................15
EU Charter substance........................................................................................................15
European Human Rights...................................................................................................17
ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights)................................................................17
European Court of Human Rights......................................................................................19
Admissibility of individual petitions..................................................................................21
Council of Europe..............................................................................................................21
The ECHR, the European Union and the National Constitutions.........................................21
Assession (EU institutions)................................................................................................23
,The United States
Bill of Rights
List of fundamental rights is laid down in the Constitution (Bill of Rights), the first
ten amendments of the Constitution, with some later additions
Purpose
entitle the citizens the relevant fundamental rights protection vis-à-vis the federal
legislature and executive (Amendment 1: ‘Congress shall make no law…’)
binds the states in their relationship to individuals (through the 14th Amendment
and the ensuing case law of the Supreme Court)
th
The 14 Amendment
added after the end of the Civil War
addressed to the states and the phrase that the states are instructed to respect
the due process of law is interpreted by the Supreme Court as to include respect
for the federal Bill of Rights (‘nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty,
or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws’)
The post-civil War
non-discrimination and equality guarantees
due process (fair treatment through the normal judicial system, especially a
citizen's entitlement to notice of a charge and a hearing before an impartial judge)
Case law has focused extensively on the first amendment (free speech, freedom of
religion and separation between state and religion)
Open formulation of rights and principles
the courts have been asked frequently to elaborate on the precise content,
meaning and application of the relatively open formulated freedoms and
principles
Supreme Court’s case law are the preponderance (emphasis/ importance) of
free speech with a focus on a broad protection of public speech
the notion of cruel and unusual punishment (as part of a debate about the
permissibility of capital punishment)
the development by the Supreme Court in the second half of the twentieth
century of fair trial and due process guarantees
the case law about privacy
the right to have an abortion
under the non-discrimination clause the right of gay marriage
Miranda Warning
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to
an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you
understand the rights I have just read to you?
The right to privacy
How to interpret the Constitution?
, Original Dynamic
interpretation interpretation
a court adjust a
a Constitution must be
constitutional text with
interpreted according to
open formulations to
the intentions of the
modern day
framers
circumstances and needs
restrain
activist
t
courts that start from the Courts which leave a
assumption to respect the legislature a small margin of
will of the lawmaker, unless appreciation and which
it acts manifestly impose their interpretation
unreasonable or arbitrary upon the lawmakers
Griswold v. Connecticut (recognition of privacy)
Facts of the case
the freedom to use anti-conceptives
Holding
the Supreme Court ‘discovered’ a right to privacy
this is part of an individual’s privacy and that such a right to privacy (which is
absent in explicit words in the Bill of Rights) is a constitutional right since it may
derived from the constitutional text
its emanations such as the protection of the home, as a fundamental right and
principle
Roe v. Wade (ensue freedom to have an abortion)
the Supreme Court took as a next step the recognition of the freedom to have an
abortion
The constitutional struggle about the wisdom of this judgment and about the
freedom of the states to still being able to control and regulate (limit) abortion has
remained an issue ever since
