Der "margin of appreciation" beim Europäischen Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte

The application of the margin of appreciation is indispensable in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights as the European Convention on Human Rights does not envisage the development of a single understanding of human rights for all states. However, it has to be taken into account that the states’ margin of discretion in this respect cannot be unlimited. The challenge is to find the necessary balance between the sovereignty of the national authorities and a coherent form of international human rights protection. This study analyses this challenge using the theory of principles. It raises the question of how an international balance, including the sovereignty or the competence of the national authorities as a formal principle, can be established. In the course of reconstructing the margin of appreciation by applying different models of formal principles in an empirical case study, the author develops an answer to this question.