The article is devoted to the analysis of the principle of fair balance between public and private interests within the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights as regards to the subject of state’s right to expropriate private property according to Article 1 First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. The author describes the Court’s case- law development as to the right of a person to receive compensation from the state. The author concludes that the payment of compensation is obligatory in case of expropriation and the amount of compensation is subject to an assessment on a wide scale. According to Court’s case- law the amount reasonably related to property’s value may be considered as the amount for compensation. The only pattern escaping the rule of compensation may be the one in which exceptional circumstances intervene and each particular case should be considered individually.