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A Quiet Constitutional Revolution: How Eisenauer v. France May Turn the ECHR Article 6 Enforcement into Distributive Justice
On 12 May 2026, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a judgment that should have caused a small earthquake. It didn’t. One possible explanation is that the judgment was issued only in French. No offence to our francophone colleagues — but a quiet constitutional revolution delivered in Molière’s language nowadays may take a few extra weeks to echo across the Channel and the Atlantic.
For those expecting a lengthy commentary on the ECtHR case, a small disappointment awaits. The Strasbourg Court actually devoted only nine paragraphs to the analysis of Article 6 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention or ECHR) — §§ 69 to 77 of Eisenauer and Others v. France (app. no. 47090/22, 12 May 2026). One might say the revolution fits on a single page. But brevity, as Eisenauer shows, can still be devastating.