Strasbourg Observers

View posts from: Right to Marriage

  • Dr. Betül Durmuş

Judicial Stereotypes on Female Sexuality and Reproduction: Nurcan Bayraktar v Türkiye

November 02, 2023

By Dr. Betül Durmuş I remember the first time I learned about Article 132 of the Turkish Civil Code (‘TCC’) in the family law classes in Turkey. This provision imposes a 300-day waiting period for divorced women to remarry unless they medically prove they are not pregnant. As a young woman and a law student, […]

  • Claire Poppelwell-Scevak

Here we go again? Is Fedotova and Others just splitting hairs when it comes to same-sex couples?

October 05, 2021

By Claire Poppelwell-Scevak When the Court rendered its judgment on Fedotova and Others v. Russia, I received numerous e-mails from colleagues who appeared to be split over the importance of this case. Camp One thought it was a repeat of Oliari but with Russia as the Respondent State instead of Italy, and Camp Two felt […]

  • Corina Heri

The Unbreakable Vow: Marital Captivity in Strasbourg

February 09, 2017

By Corina Heri, Visiting Scholar at Ghent University            It has been the ECtHR’s constant case-law that Article 12 ECHR, while enshrining the right to marry an opposite-sex spouse, does not protect a right to divorce. The fact that the Court has resolutely held on to that idea despite the modern-day legalization of divorce in the […]

  • Alexandra Timmer

Delegitimizing tradition as a “legitimate aim”: inspiration for Strasbourg from California

August 11, 2010

Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the recent judgment overturning Prop 8, got me thinking about legitimate aims. I believe the European Court of Human Rights could gain valuable insights from that case. Newspaper readers will be aware that, last week, a federal judge in California rejected the amendment to the California constitution (Proposition 8 ) which banned […]