Doctrinal convergence of the Russian Constitutional Courtand the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

Within the doctrine of the increased constitutional role of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) considerable academic debate is focusing upon the relationship between national and international courts. It appears that within national judicial systems the lower level courts have in recent years shown more and more willingness to apply directly the ECHR norms and the ECtHR jurisprudence, raising the question in the eyes of the highest national courts ‘who is the master in the house?’