Rights in the European Landscape. A Historical and Comparative Profile

The making of the European polity over the centuries has produced a stock of key ideas that today are shared across the European space. The notion that citizens have rights protected through adjudication is one of such key ideas. The European construction launched in 1957 by the six original Member States of the European Economic Community depends upon it to the extent that the working of community law today cannot be explained without it. The European Convention on Human Rights signed in 1950 works on the basis of the same premise, insofar that text allows individual complaints for the violation of human rights. Upon closer examination, however, the rich common heritage backing these foundational texts shows that the central notion of a right - deployed in countless instances by lawyers and lay people alike - remains controversial. The role that such notion should play in the legal system is controversial too. As a matter of fact, the variety of points of view emerging across Europe on these issues is such that to go beyond these generalities is to begin navigation in troubled waters. This essay aims to clarify the origins of the present difficulties evoked above.