Judgments

When neither the Constitution nor legislation imposes with respect to aliens any derogations or limitations as regards the enjoyment of rights and freedoms, Article 191 of the Constitution (before 1994 Article 128) does not preclude those aliens from relying on Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution (before 1994 Article 6 and 6bis).It may be accepted that the legislature takes the view that the categories to which the contested Law of 30 August 1988 amending the Law of 3 November 1967 on the pilotage of sea-going vessels is addressed are, principally on account of their involvement in maritime activities, sufficiently specific to justify a special regime of liability.By amending a statutory compensation scheme without re-opening claims based on a judicial decision, the legislature does not draw any unjustified distinction, as the protection ensured by Article 11 of the Constitution and Article 1 Protocol 1 ECHR applies only to property that has already been acquired.

The Court will limit the scope of an action for annulment to the provisions against which complaints are raised in the application.An individual applicant wishing to bring an action for annulment must establish an interest in doing so. Every voter has the necessary interest in seeking annulment of provisions that might adversely affect his or her vote.Any person establishing an interest may intervene by setting out his or her observations in a memorial to the Court within thirty days of publication of the notice of the action in the Official Gazette.The principle of equality is violated where it is established that there is no reasonable relationship of proportionality between the means employed and the aim pursued.By establishing equal treatment for a municipality on the linguistic border of the French language region (Comines-Warneton) and a municipality on the linguistic border in the Dutch language region (Fourons) in order to strike a balance between the Communities, the provisions of the Community Pacification Law are justified by the aim of protecting a higher public interest, provided that the measures taken can be reasonably considered not to be disproportionate to the general objective pursued by the legislature. They may be considered disproportionate if the price of such a safeguard was a violation of fundamental principles of the Belgian legal order.Among the rights and freedoms guaranteed to Belgians are the rights and freedoms arising from provisions of an international convention which are binding on Belgium and are rendered applicable in the domestic legal order by a law assenting to the convention.The Court has no jurisdiction to adjudicate on an option which the framers of the Constitution have themselves established.