This article focuses on the relationship between two perennial items on the reform agenda, direct access to the Community courts for private applicants, and requests by the national courts for preliminary rulings from the Court of Justice on questions of Community law. Ongoing developments suggest that the time is ripe for renewed debate concerning the ability of existing mechanisms to secure effective access to justice for the European citizenry.
In 'Confronting Confrontation', published in 2012, Professor Mike Redmayne elucidated a critique of the relatively strong confrontation rights embedded in the US constitutional and ECHR traditions. He argued in favour of an alternative, more narrow conceptualisation of confrontation as the positive right of an accused to cross-examine available witnesses. Drawing on some of the threads stitched in 'Confronting Confrontation', the present article explores the challenge of applying the ECHR confrontation right in common law courts. Particular emphasis is placed on the need within the Strasbourg doctrine to assess the potential significance of the evidence to the prosecution's case at trial.
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