Inviolability of the Home: Problems and Prospects of Legal Regulation

Abstract

A legal state recognizes certain freedom of an individual, unattainable for government intervention. Proportionality of the interference in the private life of citizens – is a recognized principle of assessing the correctness of actions, peculiar only to the rule of law. One of the most important aspects of a comprehensive institution of privacy, which at the same time, is the most vulnerable and very complicated in terms of protection – is the right to inviolability of the home. This is demonstrated by the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The need for legal protection and defence of the right to inviolability of the home is tempting to conduct a comprehensive study, as considered authority has its own special content that has outer and inner side. The inner side of the right's content delimits citizen's behavior in his own home. The outer side of the right serves as a legal protection of the citizen from the invasion of housing (and thus, privacy) by third parties. In addition, the home hosts a variety of investigative activities: search and seizure; inspection of the scene; investigative experiment; personal searches; the measures of procedural coercion are applied: detention of the suspect; arrest; house arrest. The aim of the research is to analyse the current legislation, concerning restriction of the constitutional right to inviolability of the home; to comprehend the most common cases and reasons for entry into a residence against the will of its inhabitants; and to develop the proposals to improve the legislation, based on international standards and taking into account national and international judicial practice on the issue under analysis.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6p147