FREEDOM OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION – AN ANALYSIS OF PRACTICES BETWEEN ESTONIA AND FINLAND
(2019) JAMM07 20191Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- Artistic freedom is recognised as a universal human right and a constitutional right in most national laws. Under the auspices of article 10 of the ECHR, the right to freedom of expression guarantees everyone a right to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority, subject to the limitation clauses outlined in Article 10(2). Whilst the text of the article makes no explicit reference to artistic expression, the ECtHR has, in its interpretations, recognized that artistic expression does indeed fall within the ambit of article 10’s protection. In majority of decisions of the ECtHR, the Court has reiterated that freedom of expression “constitutes one of the essential foundations of a... (More)
- Artistic freedom is recognised as a universal human right and a constitutional right in most national laws. Under the auspices of article 10 of the ECHR, the right to freedom of expression guarantees everyone a right to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority, subject to the limitation clauses outlined in Article 10(2). Whilst the text of the article makes no explicit reference to artistic expression, the ECtHR has, in its interpretations, recognized that artistic expression does indeed fall within the ambit of article 10’s protection. In majority of decisions of the ECtHR, the Court has reiterated that freedom of expression “constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society, indeed one of the basic conditions for its progress and for the self-fulfilment of the individual.” Yet, despite a number of eloquent statements about the importance of the freedom of expression in a modern democracy, in practice, art and artistic freedom are one of the least discussed liberties in law. Given the non-specified and non-differentiated articulation of the right to freedom of expression enounced in the text of the article 10 of the ECHR as well as national legislations, the case law that attempts to interpret the law, further creates uncertain outcomes. When the concretization of the abstract freedom is left unspecified in the legislative phase in hope, that it will be clarified through the case law, and considering, that there are not many judgements where the fundamental rights-sensitive approach to the restrictive legislation has been applied, the clarity is still not established. This has led to a situation, where the views taken by the courts, often tend to side with the party seeking to restrict art, which in turn is a cause for doctrinal concern. Thus, from the viewpoint of human rights, art, artist’s rights and artistic freedom in general, the biggest concern is the legal uncertainty surrounding the interpretations of restrictive legislation on artistic expression and the ability to materialize it.
The aim of the presented thesis is to raise discussion concerning the legal status of the freedom of artistic expression at European level as well as at a national level and to explore the efficiency of its protection. The fundamental rights, the reference point of the analysis, are used to examine how artistic expression is protected and prohibited by legal regulations and its interpretations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8984267
- author
- Ahlgren, Kersti LU
- supervisor
-
- Per Nilsén LU
- organization
- course
- JAMM07 20191
- year
- 2019
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- freedom of expression, artistic freedom, literary freedom, margin of appreciation, article 10, European Convention on Human Rights, European Court of Human Rights, human rights
- language
- English
- id
- 8984267
- date added to LUP
- 2019-06-20 17:02:34
- date last changed
- 2019-06-20 17:02:34
@misc{8984267,
abstract = {{Artistic freedom is recognised as a universal human right and a constitutional right in most national laws. Under the auspices of article 10 of the ECHR, the right to freedom of expression guarantees everyone a right to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority, subject to the limitation clauses outlined in Article 10(2). Whilst the text of the article makes no explicit reference to artistic expression, the ECtHR has, in its interpretations, recognized that artistic expression does indeed fall within the ambit of article 10’s protection. In majority of decisions of the ECtHR, the Court has reiterated that freedom of expression “constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society, indeed one of the basic conditions for its progress and for the self-fulfilment of the individual.” Yet, despite a number of eloquent statements about the importance of the freedom of expression in a modern democracy, in practice, art and artistic freedom are one of the least discussed liberties in law. Given the non-specified and non-differentiated articulation of the right to freedom of expression enounced in the text of the article 10 of the ECHR as well as national legislations, the case law that attempts to interpret the law, further creates uncertain outcomes. When the concretization of the abstract freedom is left unspecified in the legislative phase in hope, that it will be clarified through the case law, and considering, that there are not many judgements where the fundamental rights-sensitive approach to the restrictive legislation has been applied, the clarity is still not established. This has led to a situation, where the views taken by the courts, often tend to side with the party seeking to restrict art, which in turn is a cause for doctrinal concern. Thus, from the viewpoint of human rights, art, artist’s rights and artistic freedom in general, the biggest concern is the legal uncertainty surrounding the interpretations of restrictive legislation on artistic expression and the ability to materialize it.
The aim of the presented thesis is to raise discussion concerning the legal status of the freedom of artistic expression at European level as well as at a national level and to explore the efficiency of its protection. The fundamental rights, the reference point of the analysis, are used to examine how artistic expression is protected and prohibited by legal regulations and its interpretations.}},
author = {{Ahlgren, Kersti}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{FREEDOM OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION – AN ANALYSIS OF PRACTICES BETWEEN ESTONIA AND FINLAND}},
year = {{2019}},
}