Property Protection as a Limit to Deteriorating Social Security Protection

Abstract

This paper explores how the protection of property rights can serve as a limit to deteriorating social security protection. The protection of property rights under Article 1 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), often combined with the right to fair trial under Article 6(1), has proved a valuable legal instrument in social security matters when the respective rights seem to be threatened by potential changes in social security law. This article therefore focuses on the judicial protection provided when a social security claim is brought to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and certain selected national courts. If the right to social security actually provides a more targeted content with regard to the status quo of an individual protected under a social security system, then what are the consequences for law and juridical practice? Jurisprudence and relevant case law at a European level under the ECHR focuses attention on the obligations of the contracting Member States in respect of the protection of social security rights, classified under the Article 1 1P of the ECHR.