An analysis of the property rights provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and their implications for constitutional and law reforms within Slovakia

Abstract

Article 1, Protocol 1 (Al, P1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) guarantees the right to the peaceful enjoyment of one's possessions and protects against illegitimate deprivation and control of the use of property. However, Al, P1 expressly allows the State wide powers to interfere with this right if certain conditions are satisfied. How far can the State interfere with the property rights legitimately? Does interference require a payment of compensation? What is the position in relation to the amount of compensation awarded in claims against the former socialist states? Political, social and legal changes in Central and Eastern Europe over the past two decades signified the importance of Al, P1 for the contracting States to the Convention. In Slovakia, the country, which was for decades hostile to the very notion of private property, these changes initiated a process that ultimately lead to the acceptance of property as a human right. How did the government policy reforms over a period time affect individuals' right to property? To what extent do the current guarantees safeguard
this right? Are the mechanisms put in place to redress the wrongs committed by the State in the past adequate?
By critically analysing the relevant case law and legislation, this thesis examines the property rights provisions guaranteed under the ECHR by Al, P1; and evaluates the development of the protection of property rights in Slovakia from predominantly the legal aspect, but also the historical and political background. The focus is on the interferences with private property, which were evident for the most part of the country's history; and on the current legal procedures, which were set up in order to compensate for the injustices committed in the past, in particular during the Communist regime. The thesis reaches a number of conclusions, one of which is that although the provisions of the current Slovak property rights guarantee contain, within their wording, some limitations, they do at the same time give a more explicit and wider protection
than those within Al, P1.