EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICE AS A SOURCE OF LAW

Abstract

The urgency of the research is stipulated by the necessity to study the European Court of Human Rights practice as a source of law at the regional level, which affects the development of national legal systems. The purpose of the article is to elucidate the European Court of Human Rights practice as a source of law for member states to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (on the examples of individual decisions). The research is based on the understanding of law as a dynamic social and cultural phenomenon having a specific content and is closely related to human dignity, human rights and justice. Legislation is only one form of law that can exist outside the prescriptive texts, which requires the use of the hermeneutic method and content analysis of the European Court of Human Rights decisions. The article finds out that the European Court of Human Rights is one of the most effective institutions for human rights implementation. Applying the provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which was adopted in 1950, through a dynamic interpretation, the European Court of Human Rights ensures the effectiveness and efficiency of this international treaty, revealing the content in the aspect of modernity. States parties to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms are obliged to comply with the European Court of Human Rights decisions, which (the court) always follows its practice, ensuring legal certainty and the rule of law. This allows considering the European Court of Human Rights a subject forming legal doctrines at both regional and national levels. The materials of the article can be used for scientific research of the European Court of Human Rights practice as a source of law at the regional level, which affects national legal systems. The main provisions of the article can be used to justify the study of ECHR practice by lawyers as well as law students and civil servants.