Original scientific paper
Judgements of the European court of human rights based on the scope of contemporary evidence in paternity procedures
Dijana Jakovac-Lozić
; Faculty of law, University of Split, Split, Croatia
Abstract
Quod non est, confirmari non potest.
What does not exist cannot be confirmed.
(Latin proverb)
The article features an analysis of eight judgements of the European Court of Human Rights dealing with filiation and denial of parentage, i.e. more specifically, paternity. These are recent cases in which the Court ruled that the right to respect for private and family life had been violated (Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights). While analysing the positions of the European Court regarding the scope of Article 8 of the Convention in paternity cases, the author investigates extramarital parenthood in the light of family life, from the standpoints of all its subjects. The entire article deals
with the significance of the most contemporary and sophisticated type of evidence used in paternity procedures – DNA testing. While its advantages are undisputed, at the same time it raises a number of issues: the issue of permissibility of DNA testing on deceased persons; permissibility of forced testing; (im)possibility of denying the evidential value of DNA test results; the issue of deadlines for filiation through a court procedure and the impossibility for an individual (born before the entry into force of the more
recent regulations) to obtain legal confirmation of paternity in spite of DNA tests; (im)possibility of denying paternity recognized in an earlier procedure on the basis of new evidence obtained by DNA testing which excludes paternity, and giving an advantage in
some cases to blood tests over DNA tests.
Keywords
right to respect of private and family life; paternity procedures; European Court of Human Rights; DNA testing
Hrčak ID:
70313
URI
Publication date:
15.7.2011.
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