Introduction

The Introduction presents the content and key research scope of the book. It introduces the new concept of judicial treatment and positions it into current debates on judicial compliance and judicial implementation. It explains the importance of domestic courts for the legitimacy and effectivity of the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) . The Introduction sketches the core research question “how domestic courts use ECtHR case law” and outlines the rest of the book. Finally, it justifies why Czechia is a good case for testing the new concept of judicial treatment empirically, and explains what lessons Czech experience brings for transitioning democracies of the Council of Europe.