This book examines the development of the protection of property in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The First Additional Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms introduced the protection of property into the Convention system. The Court's case law developed an autonomous concept of property and set out the modes and conditions of State interference with property. Various legal developments can be discerned in the protection of property, such as the emergence of restitution cases and pilot judgments. The author shows that the system of protection has evolved from a system where the State merely refrains from interfering with property, to one in which the State has the obligation to protect property. Although the Court has been guided by the concept of social justice in recent judgments, the author concludes that it is doubtful whether social rights, such as the right to housing, will be included among the values enjoying protection as property.

This book gives an extensive analysis of the ECHR case law on the protection of property and is of interest to anyone working in this field.

Target group

Academics

Author's information

Dragoljub Popović: Law Studies at the University of Belgrade, 1970-1974; Master of Laws at the University of Belgrade, 1974-1976; Lawyer in two commercial enterprises 1976 1980; Doctor of Law, University of Belgrade 1984; Third cycle degree in Comparative Law at the International Faculty of Comparative Law, Brussels, 1985; Lecturer (Professor, 1995) of Legal and Constitutional History and Comparative Law, Belgrade University, 1980-1998; Attorney at Law in a legal office, Belgrade, 1998-2000; Visiting Professor at the Institute of Federalism of the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, 2001; Ambassador of Serbia and Montenegro to Switzerland, 2001-2004; Professor of Constitutional Law and Comparative Law at the Business Law School of Belgrade 2004-2005; Judge of the European Court of Human Rights since 26 January 2005.