Abstract
In this paper, titled Dualism of private and public law in the case-law of the ECtHR, the author examines the Council of Europe's instrument represented by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) from several different perspectives. First, the significance of the distinction between the public and private law in practice of the ECtHR was studied.
Next, the paper scrutinizes the "private" nature of the norms of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Finally, there is an analysis of the inter-state complaints under Article 33 of the ECHR in terms of the dualism of private and public law.
The author comes to the conclusions that the ECtHR does not consider the public or private nature of the provisions of the ECHR and does not prefer any specific theory on a distinction between public and private law. The differences between public and private law, however, are specifically examined while interpreting the term "civil rights" in the sense of Article 6 of the ECHR in its judgments and decisions.
When the features of public law are predominant, the civil aspect of the right to a fair trial cannot be applied. This results in a situation where the complaint or even the whole application is declared inadmissible.
Regarding the nature of the inter-state applications under Article 33 of the ECHR, the analysis of the ECtHR' case-law demonstrates that the states in these disputes do not apply their own human rights, but perform an activity similar to diplomatic protection. Therefore, the dualism of private and public law in the inter-state disputes can be viewed from the same viewpoint as individual applications.