The European Court of Human Rights and the Norwegian Supreme Court – Independence and Democratic Control

Abstract

The internationalization of law adds new issues to the classical topic of how and when judicial review may be legitimate. We discuss review of national law on the basis of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and by the Norwegian Supreme Court. We are concerned both with the possible democratic legitimacy of such review, and other grounds for legitimacy. We finally point to some implications of this internationalization of law for public perceptions of the judges’ functions in society and for their independence – and some implications for the Norwegian selection of judges to the Supreme Court and the ECtHR.