Restrictive measures in the fights against terrorism: The UN System and the European Courts
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2032284419834361 |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue: Articles |
Special Issue: Article
Restrictive measures in the
fights against terrorism:
The UN System and the
European Courts
Jørn Vestergaard
Københavns Universitet, Denmark
Abstract
This article deals with the question of protecting fundamental rights when imposing restrictive
measures on individuals or entities in the fight against international terrorism. It is maintained that
despite a bold effort by the European Courts to strike a fair balance, there remains a lack of
adequate procedural rules.
Keywords
Terrorism, UN sanctions, blacklisting of terrorism suspects, freezing of assets, EU constitutional
law, fundamental rights
This is a court of review, not a tribunal unbounded by rules. We do not sit like a Kadi under a tree,
dispensing justice according to considerations of individual expediency.
Felix Frankfurter, Supreme Court Justice, Terminiello v. Chicago (1949) 337 US 1, 11 (dissenting
opinion)
1. The term Kadi law is normally not used in a positive meaning. In Arabic, Kadi is a term for
a judge who rules in accordance with Sharia law. Max Weber applied the concept Kadi-
Justiz as an Idealtypus, and the term has been widely adopted as a designation for judge-
made law that lacks determinate rules and emphasizes an individualized appreciation of a
given case’s specific facts, followed by a discretionary disposition. Thus, Weber regarded
Kadi law as being predominantly characterized by contextual unpredictability and substan-
tive irrationality.
Corresponding author:
Jørn Vestergaard, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, DK-2300, Copenhagen S, Denmark.
E-mail: jorn.vestergaard@jur.ku.dk
New Journal of European Criminal Law
2019, Vol. 10(1) 86–92
ªThe Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/2032284419834361
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