Abstract

The present study deals with the judgment of the ECtHR on control of the use of property and the conclusions to be drawn from it. According to ECtHR, disproportionate amendments to an Act on roadside advertising hoardings outside built-up areas have extinguished substantial part of applicant companies’ businesses. The analyzed judgment is especially interesting because it provides a good example of the different approach of the Hungarian Fundamental Law and the ECHR to the examined issue (which concerns not only the right to property in the narrow sense, but also the right to freedom of enterprise), and also strongly demonstrates the importance of the precise establishment of the facts and the correct interpretation of the regulatory context. On the one hand, the judgment summarizes the conclusions of a number of earlier (mainly Hungarian) cases, and on the other hand, it further elaborates the interpretation of the ECHR provision under examination. It can be seen that the interpretation of the control of use is in a period of change. In addition to the general principle of fair balance, the requirement of compensation is increasingly being applied in the case of restrictions that do not amount to a deprivation of property.