JAMES AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUGDMENT
CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE PINHEIRO FARINHA (ARTICLE 13 OF
THE CONVENTION) (art. 13)
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CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE PINHEIRO FARINHA
(ARTICLE 13 OF THE CONVENTION) (art. 13)
(Translation)
1. I agree with the majority as regards the findings of the judgment. I also
accept the reasoning contained in the judgment, except for paragraph 85.
2. The Convention sets forth a collective guarantee of certain rights, for
example in Article 13 (art. 13) which provides:
"Everyone whose rights and freedoms as set forth in this Convention are violated
shall have an effective remedy before a national authority notwithstanding that the
violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity." (my
emphasis)
The violation of the rights conferred by the Convention may be caused
by the law itself and the acts complained of may be in accordance with the
domestic law, in other words not be due to an improper application of the
law. In this case (and I see no reason to make an exception for the acts of
the legislature), there must be a national authority and it must have
jurisdiction to deal with the violation.
The Court itself has already adopted this position in the case of Silver
and Others, the case of Abdulaziz, Cabales and Balkandali and the case of
Campbell and Fell.
3. In the instant case, since "the Court has found [the contested]
legislation ... to be compatible with the substantive provisions of the
Convention and its Protocols," what I have just said does not prevent me
from concluding that, for the reasons stated in paragraph 86 of the
judgment, "the facts of the present case therefore disclose no violation of
Article 13 (art. 13) of the Convention".