" The court exists only to serve the cause of justice" The final statement of Justice Rene Cassin, President of the European Court of Human Rights, after reading the first judgement delivered by the Court (Lawless v. Ireland)

The case of Lawless v. Ireland

 The case of Lawless v. Ireland (1957-61) was the first international court decision, interpreting and applying international human rights law, and the first dispute between an individual and a State to be tried by an international tribunal.   More particularly, it was the first complaint brought by an individual against a State to be referred to the European Court of Human Rights.  The latter, established under the European Convention of Human Rights, is empowered to adjudicate both inter-State [Article 24] and individual complaints [Article 25] on alleged violations of human rights, as defined by the European Convention, committed within the jurisdiction of the States parties. 

The applicant Gerard Richard Lawless accused Ireland of breaching its obligations to respect and protect the rights to liberty and security of the person (article 5), to a fair trial (article 6) and to non-retroactive application of the law (article 7) as a result of the Irish government’s decision to detain Mr. Lawless without trial on the basis of an order issued the Minister for Justice alleging Mr. Lawless was engaged in activities which, in his opinion, were prejudicial to the preservation of public peace and order or to the security of the State’. In its defence, the Irish government claimed that detention without trial was not a violation of the said articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, but if it was considered a violation, the Irish government had derogated from its obligations under article 15 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

The final judgement of the European Court of Human Rights held against Lawless, sharing the legal opinion of the majority of the European Commission of Human Rights.  Thus, the European Court of Human Rights held that there was in 1957, on the territory of the Republic of Ireland, a public emergency under the terms of Article 15.  Further, the letter of the 20th July 1957, claimed by the Irish government to be a letter of derogation, met the legal conditions of Article 15(3) and was a valid letter of derogation.  Finally, the measure of detention without trial, while a violation of articles 5 and 6 per se, was ’strictly within the exigencies of the situation’ according to the powers of derogation under article 15 of the European Convention of Human Rights.  This led to the overarching finding that Ireland had not breached its obligations.  The final judgement, the first of its kind in international legal history, was delivered on the 1st July 1961 by Rene Cassin, President of the European Court of Human Rights, attracting an immense media interest both in Ireland and abroad.

In the National Archives of Ireland, the Researcher collected material from 52 Files within the Department of Justice, Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General’s Office.  The Lawless Papers in the National Archives constitute the preparatory work for the submissions to the European Commission and European Court of Human Rights, in addition to internal minutes of Attorney General Andrias O’Caoimh. 

Further Information:

• More info on Lawless v Ireland (1961)
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