Preparation:

• Bruno Simma & Philip Alston, “The Sources of Human Rights Law: Custom, Jus Cogens, and General Principles” (1988) 12 Aust. YBIL 82
• MR Hutchinson, “The Margin of Appreciation Doctrine in the European Court of Human Rights” (2008) 48:03 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 638-650

Questions:

• Can rights emerge from customary international law? Is it the same customary international law that international lawyers usually speak of?
• How should human rights contained in international treaties be interpreted?
• Do human rights evolve over time?
• What is the “margin of appreciation” in human rights law and how does it operate?

Further readings:

On sources of international human rights:

• R. B. Lillich, “The Growing Importance of Customary International Human Rights Law” (1995) 25 Ga. J. Int’l & Comp. L 1
• A. Cassese, “Are International Human Rights Treaties and Customary Rules on Torture Binding Upon US Troops in Iraq?” (2004) 2:3 Journal of International Criminal Justice 872

On interpretation generally:

• A. Orakhelashvili, “Restrictive Interpretation of Human Rights Treaties in the Recent Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights” (2003) 14:3 European Journal of International Law 529
• Greer, S. C. The margin of appreciation: interpretation and discretion under the European Convention on Human Rights (ed. Council of Europe, 2000)
• Alastair Mowbray, “The Creativity of the European Court of Human Rights” (2005) 5:1 Human Rights Law Review 57 -79

On the margin of appreciation:

• E. Brem, “ The Margin of Appreciation Doctrine in the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights” (1996) 56 Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht 240-314
• O. Gross & F. N. Aoláin, “From discretion to scrutiny: Revisiting the application of the margin of appreciation doctrine in the context of Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights” (2001) 23 Human Rights Quarterly 625
• G. Letsas, “Two Concepts of the Margin of Appreciation” (2006) 26:4 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 705
• James A Sweeney, “Margins of Appreciation: Cultural Relativity and the European Court of Human Rights in the Post-Cold War Era” (2008) 54:02 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 459-474

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