Economic and non-economic values in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights

This articles argues that the relationship between ECtHR case law relating to protection of property rights and the traditional principles of international law on foreign investments swings between a tendency to apply these principles, adapting them to the frame of reference of the Convention, and a tendency to overcome them. The first trend displays itself when the rights of property come to the fore viewed as purely economic rights. It concerns the notion of property itself, the ‘corporate veil’ principle, and the determination of the amount of compensation to be awarded in cases of expropriation. The second trend can be found when violations of other protected rights of considerable social (non-economic) interest come to the fore, together with interferences with the right of property. In such cases, the Court has tended both to extend the concept of property and to judge disproportionate these interferences in the light of the social relevance of the individual interests at stake.