Academic Journal
Beyond Reasonable Doubt at its Worst – But Also at its Potential Best: Dissecting Ireland v the United Kingdom’s No-Torture Finding
| Title: | Beyond Reasonable Doubt at its Worst – But Also at its Potential Best: Dissecting Ireland v the United Kingdom’s No-Torture Finding |
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| Authors: | Dembour, Marie-Bénédicte |
| Contributors: | Dembour, Marie-Benedicte |
| Source: | EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW European Convention on Human Rights Law Review |
| Publisher Information: | Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2023. |
| Publication Year: | 2023 |
| Subject Terms: | inference, evidence, Human Rights Law, standard of proof, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, raison de Cour, 16. Peace & justice, beyond reasonable doubt, Ireland v the United Kingdom, HRC, raison d'état, prima facie, Law and Political Science, European Court of Human Rights, burden of proof |
| Description: | Beyond reasonable doubt (brd) is arguably the Strasbourg Court’s default standard of proof. This favours the respondent state over the applicant, though less starkly so if inferences are allowed. In the foundational Irish Case of 1978, the Court accepted inferences – in theory. In practice, it drew no inference, even omitting to mention crucial facts. brd emerged as a tool of raison-d’état-turned-raison-de-Cour, apparently used to avoid the politically sensitive finding that the United Kingdom had tortured ira suspects during ‘the Troubles’. In 2018, as the Court refused to revise the no-torture finding, ‘disingenuous brd’ remained hovering: requiring direct, unattainable certainty, the Court illogically doubted the significance of declassified British documents indicating torture. brd, however, exists also in a ‘virtuous’ form, already present in Ireland’s original pronouncements. But for the Court’s fear of upsetting states and concomitant reluctance to apply brd according to its self-enunciated principles, brd at Strasbourg could be normatively sound. |
| Document Type: | Article |
| File Description: | application/pdf |
| ISSN: | 2666-3236 2666-3228 |
| DOI: | 10.1163/26663236-bja10078 |
| Access URL: | http://doi.org/10.1163/26663236-bja10078 https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/01HK9WZBJR29TF4RFTXAJS50HT/file/01HK9X13YD9DFZ7A4YPXGT9ST3 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01HK9WZBJR29TF4RFTXAJS50HT https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/01HK9WZBJR29TF4RFTXAJS50HT |
| Rights: | CC BY |
| Accession Number: | edsair.doi.dedup.....922ec47e4d9ebbb9a17cc0140a7de5d2 |
| Database: | OpenAIRE |
| ISSN: | 26663236 26663228 |
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| DOI: | 10.1163/26663236-bja10078 |