Short answers, pulled from the story.
The European Court of Human Rights opened its doors on the 21st of January 1959 based on Article 19 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Its first case arrived in 1960 and the court kept a low profile for many years during those initial decades.
Judges serve non-renewable nine-year terms within this international body and are elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Elections occur whenever a sitting judge's term expires or when a new state joins the convention with a retiring age set at 70.
The court holds jurisdiction over all member states of the Council of Europe except Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Russia, and Vatican City. Applications from individuals constitute the vast majority of cases heard here while inter-state cases remain rare despite being legally possible between any contracting state.
Living instrument doctrine guides primary judicial interpretation within this court requiring that the convention text be read in light of present-day conditions rather than original framers' intent. This approach has evolved jurisprudence regarding differential treatment based on ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.
Some states ignore verdicts while continuing practices deemed violations even though all damages must be paid within specified timeframes usually three months or interest accumulates. Non-implemented judgments rose from 2,624 in 2001 to 9,944 by end-2016 with forty-eight percent having gone unimplemented five years or longer.