requirements: the restriction must be based on a specific legal provision 69 and be applied
proportionately. 70 In other words, the State may restrict rights justifiably if it observes the
principle of legal reserve – formal justification 71 - and the principle of proportionality –
material justification. It is important to emphasize that those requirements should be
complied with accumulatively. 72 It is not sufficient to refer back to a norm that provides
express authorization in order to certify the legitimacy of a specific intervention or
restriction; rather, it is necessary to verify that the principle of proportionality was
respected in the specific case. Conversely, it is not sufficient to demonstrate the
proportionality of the restriction without being able to indicate specific legal grounds. 73 In
this regard the UN Human Rights Committee has also indicated that it is necessary for any
interference in the home not only to be lawful, but also not to be arbitrary, observing the
particular circumstances of each case. 74
40.
The first condition to justify a restriction of a fundamental right is observance of
the principle of legal reserve. 75 Aharon Barak reminds us that “[i]n a constitutional
democracy, a constitutional right cannot be limited unless such a limitation is authorized
by law.” 76 The principle of legal reserve also requires that the law authorizing the
intervention in a fundamental right be clear and decisive. As Greco has stated, “without a
specific law that establishes the intervention with relative clarity and imposes material and
procedural limits, the intervention in a fundamental right will not be lawful.” 77 In cases
such as this one, compliance with this principle is even more important because it relates
to an exception to a categorical prohibition: the general prohibition of nighttime house
raids. Therefore, not only the normal intervention consisting in a house raid should be
established by law, 78 but also, and with special rigor and care, 79 the limited exceptions to
the prohibition of nighttime raids.
41.
At first sight or in the abstract, this requirement relating to the principle of legal
reserve is met in the case examined, given that, as already mentioned, the exceptions
allowing nighttime raids were established in the Bolivian Constitution and in the infraconstitutional legal order, following the example of most of the domestic legal systems of
the Americas. 80 However, the principle of legal reserve means not only that the
intervention must be established by law; it is also necessary that the norm be applied
within the strict limits of the authorizing law. In other words, it is essential that the law
Cf., for example, Advisory Opinion 6/86. The Word “Laws “ in Article 30 of the American Convention on
Human Rights, Advisory Opinion OC-6/86, May 9, 1986. Series A No. 6, para. 24
69
Cf., for example, Case of Jenkins v. Argentina. Preliminary objections, merits, reparations and costs.
Judgment of November 26, 2019. Series C, No. 397, para. 76.
70
71
Cf. MICHAEL, Lothar; MORLOK, Martin. Grundrechte, 8th ed., Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2023, p. 330.
Cf., for example, Case of Gangaram Panday v. Suriname. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of
January 21, 1994. Series C No. 16, §47, and Case of Servellón García et al. v. Honduras. Judgment of September
21, 2006. Series C No. 152, §90.
72
73
Cf. GRECO, op. cit., p. 48.
Cf. Human Rights Committee, ICCPR. Communication No 687/1996, Rojas García v. Colombia (2001).
Available at: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/450059. para. 10.3.
74
75
Especially with regard to legal reserve in criminal proceedings, cf. ROGALL, Klaus. Informationseingriff
und Gesetzvorbehalt im Strafprozeßrecht, Zeitschrift für die gesamte Strafrechtswissenschaft, vol. 103, 1991,
pp. 907 ff.
76
BARAK, Aharon. Proportionality: Constitutional Rights and Their Limitations, Cambridge, 2012, p. 107.
Regarding the relationship between the principle of legality and human rights, cf. GARIBALDI, Oscar. General
Limitations on Human Rights: The Principle of Legality, Harvard International Law Journal, vol. 17, 1976, pp.
503 ff.
77
GRECO, op. cit., p. 37.
Cf. GENTZ, Manfred. Die Unverletzlichkeit der Wohnung – Artikel 13 des Grundgesetzes, Duncker &
Humblot: Berlin, 1968, p. 74; CABEZUDO BAJO, op. cit., p. 37.
78
Regarding the importance of the clarity and limited scope of the law that authorizes intervention in a
fundamental right, cf. KINGREEN, Thorsten; POSCHER, Ralf. Grundrechte – Staatsrecht II, 38th ed., C. F. Müller:
Heidelberg, 2022, p. 111. And, specifically in relation to home raids, PARK, cit., § 1 No. 26.
79
80
Judgment, footnote 223.
10