II. The European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights consists of a number of judges equal to that of the Members of the Council of Europe; thus there are now 18 judges. They are elected by the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe from a list of candidates submitted by the member States. Each member State nominates three candidates, of whom two at least must be its nationals. Judges are elected for nine years and may be re-elected. Although the Convention contains no clause proclaiming their independence, it follows necessarily from the functions of the Court as a judicial body. The Rules of Court, moreover, contain several provisions which take the judges' independence for granted.
The Court, like the Commission, has adopted Stras- bourg, headquarters of the Council of Europe, as its seat.
Jurisdiction of the Court
The Court is not automatically competent to hear a case, because its jurisdiction must first have been accepted by the Contracting Parties concerned. Fourteen of the sixteen Con- tracting States have now accepted the jurisdiction of the Court as compulsory (Autria, Belgium, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxem- bourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom 2). The other Contracting Parties may accept the jurisdiction of the Court for a particular case. Under Article 48 of the Convention, either the Commission or a High Contracting Party concerned may refer a case to the Court. Article 44 emphasises that only they may do so; the import- ance of this provision will be made clear further on.
2. In addition the United Kingdom has accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court in respect of 16 overseas territories for whose international relations it is responsible (see Note page 12).
Proceedings before the Court
Proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights have a certain degree of similarity with the proceedings before the International Court of Justice; the main differ- ences result from the special functions of the Court under the terms of the Convention, and particularly from the role of the Commission. In principle, the Court exercises its judicial functions through a Chamber of seven judges. The Rules of Court provide, however, that the Chamber may or, in some cases, must relinquish its jurisdiction in favour of the plenary Court. A Chamber has already referred two cases for consideration to the plenary Court.
The Commission's report on a case is the starting-point and, indeed, the foundation of the entire proceedings, which are normally divided into two parts: the written stage, during which the Parties and the Commission exchange memorials, submissions and rejoinders; and the oral stage, during which the case is examined at a hearing in the presence of the Parties and the delegates of the Commission, which takes place in public unless the Court decides otherwise.
The Commission assists the Court during proceedings before the latter somewhat in the manner of a "Ministère public" under certain systems of law, in the sense that it represents the general interest of the European system of human rights established by the Convention. The Commis- sion is not a party to the proceedings, however. It is normally represented before the Court in the person of three delegates appointed for the purpose; one of their main duties is to see that the Commission's report is properly understood.
The individual applicant, as previously mentioned, may never bring a case before the Court himself, and hence may never be a party to the proceedings. This does not mean, however, that he has no place at all in the procedure; certain provisions in the Rules of Court make it possible for the in- dividual to be heard, for example as a witness. But in the main he must rely on the Commission which, as representa- tive of the general interest, may decide that it is desirable to inform the Court of his views. These problems of the position of the Commission and of the individual applicant during pro- ceedings before the Court were the focal point of discussion
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