A Trial to Understand the Concept of Fair Trial

Upon the infusion of science and technology into the every aspect of life, the state mechanism, as the most developed and organised institution in the society, has acquired the right to enter into the most private spheres either as regulator or as protector of rights. The only guarantee against the unprecedented and irresistible enlargement of the state mechanism in all modern societies is the judicial protection of human rights fairly and effectively. It is universally accepted that right to a fair trial is one of the core human rights and cornerstone of protection mechanisms.The European Court of Human Rights depicts the fair trial as a basic principle of the rule of law in a democratic society and aims to secure the right to a proper administration of justice. Although there is a wide accepted tendency nowadays on considering human rights as a product of western civilisation, the concept of human rights is not a registered item of a particular civilisation, geographic region, culture or country. Therefore, the concept of fair trial has various national, philosophical, judicial, historical and geographical dimensions and a rich diversity of ideas prevails on its definition. It is almost impossible to formulate the concept of fair trial exhaustively, or to assert a universally accepted definition dueto extensive case-law of various national and international judicial instances, different legal traditions and abundance of academic literature on the issue. Nevertheless, it is worth searching the meaning, scope and sources of the fair trial in order to provide a solid basis to understand it. The term fair trial represents a universal value and a common fruit of international human rights law which has,in one sense, cultural and historical roots in many legal traditions

Upon the infusion of science and technology into the every aspect of life, the state mechanism, as the most developed and organised institution in the society, has acquired the right to enter into the most private spheres either as regulator or as protector of rights. The only guarantee against the unprecedented and irresistible enlargement of the state mechanism in all modern societies is the judicial protection of human rights fairly and effectively. It is universally accepted that right to a fair trial is one of the core human rights and cornerstone of protection mechanisms. The European Court of Human Rights depicts the fair trial as a basic principle of the rule of law in a democratic society and aims to secure the right to a proper administration of justice. Although there is a wide accepted tendency nowadays on considering human rights as a product of western civilisation, the concept of human rights is not a registered item of a particular civilisation, geographic region, culture or country. Therefore, the concept of fair trial has various national, philosophical, judicial, historical and geographical dimensions and a rich diversity of ideas prevails on its definition. It is almost impossible to formulate the concept of fair trial exhaustively, or to assert a universally accepted definition due to extensive case-law of various national and international judicial instances, different legal traditions and abundance of academic literature on the issue. Nevertheless, it is worth searching the meaning, scope and sources of the fair trial in order to provide a solid basis to understand it. The term fair trial represents a universal value and a common fruit of international human rights law which has, in one sense, cultural and historical roots in many legal traditions