ABSTRACT
The principle of effective legal protection as such is primarily known from, and seems to be the product of, European supranational law. The elasticity and versatility of this term makes its conceptualisation particularly important. The concept of effective legal protection is deeply entrenched in the European Union’s legislation and in the case law of the European Court of Justice, and is also familiar in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. Art. 19(1) of the Treaty on European Union states that the ‘Member States shall provide remedies sufficient to ensure effective legal protection in the fields covered by Union law’. In fact, the principle of effective legal protection in this form does not appear in the constitutions of the European countries. The legal protection of individual rights against illegal state intervention is a key issue in all modern democracies.
