under

Section 3 also provides that this interpretative obligation does not affect the validity, continuing operation or enforcement of any incompatible primary legislation. Thus, the Convention cannot be used to strike down any part of an existing statute as unconstitutional. This is clearly an important limitation. In practice, the judiciary are likely to find that compatibility can generally be ensured. The Convention rights are open ended and the interpretation of them in the European Court and Commission of Human Rights has not always been rigorous, because Member States have been afforded a margin of appreciation (a degree of leeway) in determining what is necessary to protect the rights in their national legal systems. This is discussed below. It is likely that courts will strive to construe legislation so as to conform with the Convention, since, otherwise, the plaintiff or defendant would have to suffer a breach of Convention rights, possibly for a considerable period of time.