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This paper aims to analyze the scope of overlapping jurisdiction and divergent interpretations between the European Court of Justice (ECJ or Luxembourg Court) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or Strasbourg Court) on the right to private and family life as enshrined in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. First, this research focuses on the origins of the ECJ's fundamental rights case law and the further developments introduced by the Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties. Then, this paper studies the conflicts between the Luxembourg and Strasbourg Courts case law regarding the interpretation of the right to private and family life as applicable to business premises and legal persons. Finally, this research analyzes whether the potentially binding effect of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the future European Union's accession to the ECHR would contribute to achieving the necessary coherence between the European Convention and Community law. It is concluded that accession to the ECHR is necessary for achieving that goal, since it would contribute to avoiding different interpretations of the European Convention's rights by the ECJ and to enlarge its jurisdiction in every case where those rights are affected by Community measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper entails an approach to the situation of the legal recognition of minorities in Europe, taking into account the legal structures that emerged after the Second World War. It reviews the development of this subject in the European system of human rights, focusing in particular on the European Court of Human Rights as well as on the activities of other European organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]