GRESHAM LECTURE VI

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European Convention on Human Rights

• Art 8 Everyone has the right to respect for his
  private and family life . . . No interference
  except . . . national security, public safety,
  economic wellbeing, prevention of disorder,
  crime, protection of health and morals,
  protection of rights and freedom of otheres

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ECHR

• Art 12 Men and women of marriageable age have the
  right to marry and found a family, according to
  the national laws governing the exercise of that
  right

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ECHR

• Art 14 Rights and freedoms shall be secured
  without discrimination on any ground such as sex,
  race, colour, language, religion, political or
  other opinion, national or social origin,
  association with a national minority, property,
  birth or other status

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Gavin Mellor failed

• R v Secretary of State for the Home Dept ex p
  Mellor 2001 Human Rights Law Reports 38
• Met wife in prison service 31 on release date
• Art 12 breach?

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Kirk Dickson

• Sought AI in prison
• Dickson v UK Grand Chamber of European Court of
  Human Rights 44362/04
• Prisoners retain all rights that are not
  expressly removed

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Parenthood supreme

• Yigal Amir assassinated Yitzhak Rabin and was
  sentenced to life in prison in 1996
• Larissa Trimbobler left her husband for him and
  they were married by proxy

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Amirs baby

• Son born October 2007 after conjugal visits in
  jail were granted
• Cf English law but Kirk Dickson finally won right
  from European Court of Human Rights to AI with
  wife aged 49

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Welfare of the child

• HFEA 1990 s.13(5) A woman shall not be provided
  with treatment services unless account has been
  taken of the welfare of any child who may be born
  as a result of the treatment (including the need
  of that child for a father) . . .
• HFEA 2008 s.14(2)(b) For a father substitute
  supportive parenting

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Babies need fathers

• Government policy
• Divorce rate
• Contact
• Child support
• Birth registration
• Paternity leave
• Removal of donor anonymity

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UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1990

• Art. 7 The child shall be registered immediately
  after birth and shall have the right from birth
  to a name, the right to acquire a nationality
  and, as far as possible, the right to know and be
  cared for by his or her parents.

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Advantages of fathers

• Complementary roles
• Shared responsibility
• Two sets of relatives
• Two sets of life experiences
• Greater stability

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Fathers influence

• According to the NSPCC there is a positive
  correlation with
• education
• behaviour
• relationship forming
• confidence
• Mental health

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COUPLES AND THE LAW 2009-10

• Divorce 15 September
• Maintenance 13 October
• Cohabitation 17 November
• Civil partnerships 2 February
• Family members 16 March
• Cousin marriage 23 March
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