The European Court of Human Rights has been at the crossroads of two legal civilizations: the Continental Civil Law on the one hand and the British Common Law on the other. The common-law construction with its analogical reasoning is based on the formula that 'the like cases should to be decided alike'. This legal tradition is more open-textured than the logical reasoning in the Continental legal system. Also, Continental judges are, since Montesquieu, thought of as merely 'les bouches de la loi' - bound to derive their judgements from an abstract normative major premise. Here we have yet again two different approaches to reality.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/in-the-context-of-the-common-law-the-european-court-of-human-rights-in-strasbourg

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