Open Access The 'filtering effects' of ECtHR case law on religious freedoms: legal recognition and places of worship for religious minorities in Greece

Author(s):  
Margarita Markoviti
Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 830
Author(s):  
Kristin Henrard

This article begins with some reflections on the definition of religious minorities, their needs and rights and how this relates to the discussion about the need for minority specific rights in addition to general fundamental rights as rights for all human beings irrespective of particular identity features. Secondly, an overall account of the ambiguous relationship between religious minorities and fundamental rights is presented. The third and most extensive section zooms in on the EU and religious minorities, starting with an account of the EU’s general approach towards minorities and then turning to the protection of fundamental rights of religious minorities in/through the EU legal order. First, the EU’s engagement with minority specific rights and the extent to which these norms have been attentive to religious themes will be discussed. Second, the CJEU’s case law concerning freedom of religion and the prohibition of dis-crimination as general human rights is analysed. The conclusion then turns to the overall perspective and discusses whether the EU’s protection of religious minorities’ fundamental rights can be considered ‘half-hearted’ and, if so, to what extent. This in turn allows us to return to the overall focus of the Special Issue, namely the relationship between the freedom of religion for all and special rights for religious minorities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 627-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Dunne ◽  
Jule Mulder

This Case Note discusses the recent judgment of the German Constitutional Court (1 BvR 2019/16) requiring either the legal recognition of sex categories beyond male or female, or the aboltion of sex registration requirements. The Note considers the Court's decision within the broader constitutional case law on gender identity, and explores both the progressive potential, and the future—perhaps unforeseen—consequences, of the ruling. The Case Note proceeds in three sections. Section A introduces the facts of the constitutional challenge, and sets out both the submissions of the complainant, as well as the reasoning of the Constitutional Court. In Section B, the Case Note explores the domestic law novelty of the decision, placing particular emphasis on the application of a constitutional equality framework to persons who experience intersex variance. Finally, in Section C, the Case Note contextualizes the judgment, situating the reasoning of the Constitutional Court within wider movements for transgender—otherwise known as trans—and intersex rights.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katayoun Alidadi

When employees are dismissed or resign because of a conflict between their religion and job duties or expectations, how does this affect their claims to unemployment benefits? How do European countries address this question? The answer has significant consequences for many jobseekers and employees belonging to religious minorities and in many ways excluded from the mainstream labour market, yet the role of religion in the adjudication of European unemployment disputes has so far received limited attention. This article focuses on the role of religious dress in unemployment benefits disputes in Belgium, the Netherlands and Great Britain. It also assesses whether the messaging in relevant case law in the area of unemployment benefits has been sufficiently interlocking with employment law. Finding a level of disconnect, it is argued that an explicit duty of reasonable accommodation in employment would appropriately address the interplay between unemployment benefits and employment law in Europe.


First Monday ◽  
2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Poulin

Securing a widespread and, whenever possible, free, access to legal information has become important everywhere. Open access has higher stakes in developing countries where access to law is often difficult. In this particular context, free access to statutes and case law could significantly contribute to a better establishment of the rule of law and an overall consolidation of national legal institutions. Never before have better conditions existed for a wider circulation of law. The Internet and related technologies have dramatically revolutionized the possibilities of cheaply providing high–quality, low–cost access to national legal documentation. In this article, elements of a strategy aimed at developing open access to law in developing countries are put forth.


Author(s):  
Francisco Javier Jiménez Muñoz

El reconocimiento jurídico-civil de la realidad de la transexualidad no se ha producido hasta tiempos muy recientes. No obstante, este reconocimiento venía realizado en un ámbito exclusivamente jurisprudencial, y además de modo muy restringido, pues se exigía haber completado totalmente el proceso quirúrgico de cambio de sexo y, partiendo de que se trataría de una ficción jurídica, se reconocían efectos meramente registrales y de cambio de nombre. La Ley 3/2007 vino a suponer un cambio radical, al eliminar el requisito del tratamiento quirúrgico, reconocer a la reasignación todos los efectos que se derivan para el interesado de su nueva condición y desjudicializar el procedimiento, integrándolo en el ámbito del expediente gubernativo de rectificación registral. Ahora, los únicos requisitos, junto a los personales de nacionalidad española, mayoría de edad y capacidad suficiente, serán los del informe médico o psicológico de diagnóstico de disforia de género y ausencia de trastornos de personalidad que pudieran influir determinantemente en su existencia y tratamiento médico de adaptación de al menos dos años, salvo que razones acreditadas de salud o edad imposibiliten su seguimiento.The civil legal recognition of transsexuality has not occurred until recently. However, this recognition came only carried out in case law, and also in a very restricted way, as it was required to have fully completed the surgical process of sex change and, assuming that it would be a legal fiction, they were recognized only registration effects and change of name. The Act No. 3/2007 came to mean a radical change, by eliminating the requirement of surgical treatment, recognizing to registration reallocation all the effects that accrue to the applicant from his/her new status and dis judicializing the procedure, integrating it into the field of gubernatorial record registration correction. Now, the only requirements, along with Spanish nationality, age and sufficient capacity shall be those of medical or psychological diagnosis of gender dysphoria and absence of personality disorders that could influence decisively in its existence, and treatment adjustment of at least two years unless proven reasons of health or age make impossible its fulfillment.


Author(s):  
Katayoun Alidadi

Human rights and anti-discrimination law address social inequalities faced by religious minorities in today’s societies, including their discrimination in the workplace. Legal rules are necessarily abstract, separated from current realities of vulnerable minorities. Abstract rules do not speak for themselves (what does the prohibition of ‘indirect discrimination’ really mean?), but require interpretation, and since much is at stake they become the subject of continuous contestations over meanings. Judicial decisions mediate between the abstract and the concrete, and create ‘semi-abstract’ norms; decisions interpret and apply the abstract norms in the law on the books, but are in turn themselves the subject of (re)interpretation in the legal, social, and political realm. Thus, the specific and serendipitous facts and circumstances of particular workplace disputes provide the material for constructing meaningful understandings of legal norms. These interpretations are not neutral, but are, rather, products of judicial policy.To illustrate the importance of taking stock of judicial decisions and their role in moving abstract legal norms towards the ‘shop floor of social life’, this chapter uses as case studies two European anti-discrimination cases – Achbita and Bougnaoui (2017) – involving female Muslim employees seeking to wear a headscarf in the workplace. A holistic law and society viewpoint should engage deeply with judicial decisions that interpret and apply abstract anti-discrimination norms. Developments in case law thus merit not only the close attention of legal scholars but of legal anthropologists as well, as the latter are interested in the percolation of enacted norms on the ground.


2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-149
Author(s):  
Montse Morante ◽  
Patricia Sanpera

This article outlines free online legal resources to conduct research on Catalan and Spanish legislation and case-law. Most of these resources are primary sources made public by government bodies. The list shows how the Spanish and Catalan governments, in their attempt to promote equal access to legislation and case-law, cover the different jurisdictions. The text also mentions some resources to conduct historical legal research about legislation and case law, and some free legal private websites.


2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Goodrich

Aristotle, in his Ethics, argued that good legislators should pay more attention to friendship than to law. Common law, however, has trouble with friendship and has historically taken the view that agreements between friends are unenforceable for lack of intention to create legal relations. The roots of this presumption against amicable agreements lie in theology and antique ecclesiastical case law. Those sources are reviewed here and it is argued that seemingly progressive decisions that accord cohabiting friends legal recognition as spouses have the paradoxical effect of depriving them of contractual capacity. They join traditionally married couples in the ‘amity’ of the household which case law defines as an Alsatia outside of law. It is argued that such a consequence is both unintended and undesirable.


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