Collective religious autonomy under the European Convention on Human Rights: the UK Jewish Free School case in international perspective

What should the response be if a religious community (or an affiliated institution) violates the individual rights of either its own members or of others in society? This working paper analyses the UK Jewish Free School case, which raised a question of racial discrimination in the admission policy of the school from a theoretical and international law perspective with focus on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The aim is to address broader issues of collective freedom of religion or belief by giving some theoretical conceptualising points about collective religious autonomy. An attempt is also made to provide some hypothetical predictions as to how the JFS case would be decided under the European Court of Human Rights if ever submitted.