This paper analyses the right to personal liberty in the pre-trial phases of criminal proceedings in comparative law. Against this background the present study focuses on the relationship between personal liberty and pre-trial measures restricting personal freedom, proposing an approach based on the following sequence: right to liberty > pre-trial measures restricting personal freedom as an alternative to the right to liberty > custodial measures as an alternative to restrictive measures. Following the requirements of the functional comparison, this paper analyses the solutions offered by the European domestic legal systems, the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Union legislation to balance the protection of the aims of criminal proceedings and the presumption in favour of liberty where pre-trial means impinging on personal freedom are adopted. This analysis has been conducted in two directions, i.e., at a domestic and transnational level. Within this framework, the present study proposes a reconstruction of the principles governing the use of pre-trial coercive measures in light of the presumption of innocence.
