F was a 36 year old adult woman who suffered from a disability that left her with the mental capacity of a young child.  She had been a voluntary in-patient at a mental hospital since the age of 14, where she received treatment and enjoyed a great degree of freedom of movement. Although the facility …Read more

  The applicant, a French citizen, struggled with depression, schizophrenia and, at some points, symptoms of catatonia.  In May of 1961, the applicant, who was a primary school supply teacher, voluntarily reported to the neurological clinic at Strasbourg Hospital for observation. He expected to be in the hospital for two weeks. In June of 1961, …Read more

Applicant and her daughter Lisa are Swedish nationals. Lisa was taken into public care shortly after her birth on the ground that the conditions in their home were unsatisfactory. Later on an appeal the court terminated the public care, but prohibited for an indefinite period the removal of Lisa from the foster home pursuant to …Read more

On November 5 1986, the Court of First Instance and Preliminary Investigations No. 10 of Malaga ordered the search of a medical clinic where criminal actions (specifically, the administration of abortions) were allegedly taking place. In so doing, information regarding the medical history of Ms. Ximena’s (the appellant) was recorded. On November 21, 1986, the …Read more

Jens Soering was a German national who came to the United States to study at the University of Virginia. While there, he became friends with Elizabeth Haysom, a Canadian national.  Haysom’s parents did not approve of Soering and Haysom’s relationship.  In March 1985 the couple made plans to kill Haysom’s parents.  They rented a car …Read more

The appellant, Mr. Norris, complained against the laws in Ireland which criminalized consensual homosexual acts (the impugned provisions). The applicant was a gay Irish citizen and gay rights advocate who claimed to suffered deep depression and loneliness arising from his inability to express his sexuality. He gave evidence of certain health and other detrimental effects …Read more

The applicant (Mrs. Feldbrugge), a Netherlands citizen, was removed from sickness benefits she had been receiving through health insurance because a medical examination had shown that she was again fit to work. Upon taking her case to the Appeals Board, the President ruled against her based on the medical testimony of the Board’s medical staff. …Read more

The Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) issued a memorandum of guidance to local health authorities that stated that, inter alia, “consultations between doctors and patients are confidential,” even for children less than 16. The memorandum noted that while “it would be most unusual,” a doctor could advise the child regarding contraception without parental …Read more

Ms. Sidaway brought an action in negligence against Bethlem Royal Hospital and the hospital’s surgeon after she was left severely disabled from a spinal operation. Ms. Sidaway, who suffered from constant shoulder and neck pains, was advised by a surgeon employed by the hospital to have an operation on her spinal column to relieve her …Read more

The applicant, a father of a mentally handicapped woman, found himself unable to institute criminal proceedings against an individual who had sexually assaulted his daughter due to a gap in the domestic criminal laws of the Netherlands, which required the victim to file the complaint herself. Although the victim was more than sixteen years of …Read more

The applicant was a British national who had been convicted of dangerous driving and unlawful possession of firearms. Because he suffered from mental illness, the court ordered his detention in a psychiatric hospital with out a time limit for his discharge. The applicant attempted to abscond from the psychiatric hospital twice, as a result of …Read more

Applicant, Luberti, an Italian national, shot and killed his mistress and was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. The applicant pleaded insanity and several experts concluded that the applicant was suffering from mental illness. These findings were accepted by the Court of Appeal and he was acquitted on grounds of mental incapacity and the applicant was …Read more

The President wished to remove significant portions of Law No. 56/79 that established the National Health Service. The law was created by parliament and thus the President argued that the parliament holds all power to alter or remove the law. The President also intended to repeal and replace Law No. 488/75, but the constitutionality of …Read more

Applicants, Mrs. Cosans and Mrs. Campbell, were Scottish nationals who complained about the use of corporal punishment in Scottish schools as a disciplinary measure. Mrs. Campell’s request for a guarantee that her son not be subjected to such punishment was refused. Mrs. Cosans’ son was summoned by his Headmaster for corporal punishment upon taking a …Read more

A private care establishment that was denied its request for approval appealed the judgment on the grounds of abuse of power by the social and sanitary action inspector, who was deleted this task by the prefect.

During a police search of Applicant Dudgeon’s home on suspicion of drug activity, personal property, including correspondences and diaries describing same-sex sexual activity, was seized. Dudgeon was subsequently taken to a police station and questioned extensively about his sexual life. The prosecutor considered but eventually declined to prosecute Dudgeon under a statute prohibiting “gross indecency” …Read more

The applicant, a United Kingdom national who had previously been diagnosed with having a paranoid psychosis, claimed that the United Kingdom unlawfully deprived him of his liberty when authorities forcibly recalled him to a hospital for the criminally insane in which he had completed a prior sentence for a violent crime. At the time of …Read more

Applicant, a gay man, brought a complaint before the Commission alleging that laws criminalizing male homosexual conduct in Northern Ireland constituted unjustified interference with his right to respect for his private life (Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights) as well as unjustifiable discrimination on sexual grounds and residency grounds (Article 14). Due …Read more

The applicant claimed that English law violated provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention), after he found out that his wife was pregnant and planned to have a legal abortion without his consent. Specifically, the applicant claimed that England and Wales violated the right to life and the right to liberty and security …Read more

Winterwerp brought an action against the Netherlands following his detention in a psychiatric hospital. Winterwerp was committed to a psychiatric hospital in accordance with the emergency procedure then in force under the Act on State Supervision of Mentally Ill Persons. Six weeks later, during Winterwerp’s emergency detention, his wife applied for his provisional detention at …Read more

In 1975, the Constitutional Court of Germany struck down a law that decriminalized abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. The applicants claimed that the resulting amendment to the German criminal code, which criminalized abortion (except under certain circumstances) in the first trimester of pregnancy violated Article 8 (right to a private life) of the European Convention on …Read more

The applicant argued that the refusal of the authorities to give her disabled daughter a medical card constituted a breach of her daughter’s right to life guaranteed by Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention of Human Rights (“the Convention”). The applicant’s daughter suffered from a serious deformation of the larynx, which prevented …Read more

Appellants were parents of children who had attended Denmark public schools until they were refused exemption from the country’s compulsory sex education lessons. The parents claimed a violation of the right to education under Article 2 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention) because the alternatives to public education included costly …Read more

Please note: This opinion is unusual as it does not include the factual background. These facts listed below are developed from alternative sources. Before the promulgation of the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Act, 88 senators made a referral to the French constitutional court challenging the constitutionality of the new bill according to article 61 of …Read more

Applicant, a stateless person with a Swedish alien’s passport, was arrested in Scotland on suspicion of committing murder in Ireland. Applicant was taken to Ireland, convicted of murder, and sentenced to penal servitude for life. Applicant claimed that his trial was “rigged and fixed” as a result of a conspiracy between the judge, his own …Read more

The employer of an injured steel erector sued its employee, seeking an injunction that would require the employee to undergo radical surgery to obtain relief from a hernia. The hernia, which arose out of and in the course of the employee’s designated work, rendered the employee incapable of performing key work functions. As per the …Read more

Ms. Marshall brought an action against the Lindsey County Council (the Council) for damages arising out of a breach of duty of care. She contended that the Council-operated Cleethorpes Maternity Home and its staff were negligent in failing to prevent the transmission of puerperal fever, in allowing her to be admitted to a shared ward …Read more