CONNORS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
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§ 52; Gillow v. the United Kingdom, judgment of 24 November 1986, Series
A, no. 104, § 55). On the other hand, in spheres involving the application of
social or economic policies, there is authority that the margin of
appreciation is wide, as in the planning context where the Court has found
that “[i]n so far as the exercise of discretion involving a multitude of local
factors is inherent in the choice and implementation of planning policies, the
national authorities in principle enjoy a wide margin of appreciation
(Buckley v. the United Kingdom, judgment of 26 September 1996, Reports
of Judgments and Decisions 1996-IV, p. 1292, § 75 in fine). The Court has
also stated that in spheres such as housing, which play a central role in the
welfare and economic policies of modern societies, it will respect the
legislature’s judgment as to what is in the general interest unless that
judgment is manifestly without reasonable foundation (see Mellacher and
Others v. Austria, judgment of 19 December 1989, Series A no. 169, p. 27,
§ 45, Immobiliare Saffi v. Italy [GC], no. 22774/93, ECHR 1999-V, § 49). It
may be noted however that this was in the context of Article 1 of Protocol
No. 1, not Article 8 which concerns rights of central importance to the
individual’s identity, self-determination, physical and moral integrity,
maintenance of relationships with others and a settled and secure place in
the community (see, mutatis mutandis, Gillow v. the United Kingdom, cited
above, § 55; Pretty v. the United Kingdom, no. 2346/02, ECHR 2002-III;
Christine Goodwin v. the United Kingdom, no. 28957/95, § 90,
ECHR 2002-VI). Where general social and economic policy considerations
have arisen in the context of Article 8 itself, the scope of the margin of
appreciation depends on the context of the case, with particular significance
attaching to the extent of the intrusion into the personal sphere of the
applicant (Hatton and others v. the United Kingdom, [GC] no. 36022/97,
ECHR 2003-..., §§ 103 and 123).
83. The procedural safeguards available to the individual will be
especially material in determining whether the respondent State has, when
fixing the regulatory framework, remained within its margin of
appreciation. In particular, the Court must examine whether the decisionmaking process leading to measures of interference was fair and such as to
afford due respect to the interests safeguarded to the individual by Article 8
(see Buckley, cited above, pp. 1292-93, § 76, Chapman v. the United
Kingdom [GC], no. 27138/95, ECHR 2001-I, § 92).
84. The vulnerable position of gypsies as a minority means that some
special consideration should be given to their needs and their different
lifestyle both in the relevant regulatory framework and in reaching decisions
in particular cases (Buckley judgment cited above, pp. 1292-95, §§ 76, 80
and 84). To this extent, there is thus a positive obligation imposed on the
Contracting States by virtue of Article 8 to facilitate the gypsy way of life
(see Chapman, cited above, § 96 and the authorities cited, mutatis mutandis,
therein).