38
HASSAN v. THE UNITED KINGDOM – JUDGMENT
effects, outside their territories can constitute an exercise of jurisdiction within the
meaning of Article 1 only in exceptional cases (Banković, cited above, § 67).
132. To date, the Court in its case-law has recognised a number of exceptional
circumstances capable of giving rise to the exercise of jurisdiction by a Contracting
State outside its own territorial boundaries. In each case, the question whether
exceptional circumstances exist which require and justify a finding by the Court that
the State was exercising jurisdiction extra-territorially must be determined with
reference to the particular facts.
(β) State agent authority and control
133. The Court has recognised in its case-law that, as an exception to the principle
of territoriality, a Contracting State’s jurisdiction under Article 1 may extend to acts
of its authorities which produce effects outside its own territory (see Drozd and
Janousek v. France and Spain, judgment of 26 June 1992, Series A no. 240, § 91;
Loizidou v. Turkey (preliminary objections), 23 March 1995, § 62, Series A no. 310;
Loizidou v. Turkey (merits), 18 December 1996, § 52, Reports of Judgments and
Decisions 1996‑VI; and Banković, cited above, 69). The statement of principle, as it
appears in Drozd and Janousek and the other cases just cited, is very broad: the Court
states merely that the Contracting Party’s responsibility ‘can be involved’ in these
circumstances. It is necessary to examine the Court’s case-law to identify the defining
principles.
134. First, it is clear that the acts of diplomatic and consular agents, who are present
on foreign territory in accordance with provisions of international law, may amount to
an exercise of jurisdiction when these agents exert authority and control over others
(Banković, cited above, § 73; see also X v. Federal Republic of Germany, no. 1611/62,
Commission decision of 25 September 1965, Yearbook of the European Convention
on Human Rights, vol. 8, pp. 158 and 169; X v. the United Kingdom, no. 7547/76,
Commission decision of 15 December 1977; WM v. Denmark, no. 17392/90,
Commission decision of 14 October 1993).
135. Secondly, the Court has recognised the exercise of extra-territorial jurisdiction
by a Contracting State when, through the consent, invitation or acquiescence of the
Government of that territory, it exercises all or some of the public powers normally to
be exercised by that Government (Banković, cited above, § 71). Thus where, in
accordance with custom, treaty or other agreement, authorities of the Contracting
State carry out executive or judicial functions on the territory of another State, the
Contracting State may be responsible for breaches of the Convention thereby incurred,
as long as the acts in question are attributable to it rather than to the territorial State
(see Drozd and Janousek, cited above; Gentilhomme and Others v. France,
nos. 48205/99, 48207/99 and 48209/99, judgment of 14 May 2002; and also X and Y
v. Switzerland, nos. 7289/75 and 7349/76, Commission’s admissibility decision of
14 July 1977, DR 9, p. 57).
136. In addition, the Court’s case-law demonstrates that, in certain circumstances,
the use of force by a State’s agents operating outside its territory may bring the
individual thereby brought under the control of the State’s authorities into the State’s
Article 1 jurisdiction. This principle has been applied where an individual is taken into
the custody of State agents abroad. For example, in Öcalan v. Turkey [GC],
no. 46221/99, § 91, ECHR 2005‑IV, the Court held that ‘directly after being handed
over to the Turkish officials by the Kenyan officials, the applicant was effectively
under Turkish authority and therefore within the “jurisdiction” of that State for the
purposes of Article 1 of the Convention, even though in this instance Turkey
exercised its authority outside its territory’. In Issa and Others v. Turkey,
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