Court of Cassation, marriage nullity, European Court of Human Rights, ECHR Article 12, right to marriage, private and family life, Civil Code Article 161
Reader
Abstract
Extract
of 11
Abstract
The Court of Cassation confirms the nullity of a marriage between allies, citing national laws and the European Court of Human Rights.
Extract
[...] The Court of Cassation rejects the appeal formed against the judgment rendered on March by the Court of Appeal of Paris. CASE FILE N°3: Court of Cassation, November Appietto The judgment we will study is a rejection judgment rendered by the first civil chamber of the Court of Cassation on November This judgment is titled Appietto and is related to the request for nullity of a white marriage. In the facts a couple got married solely to legitimize the child whose father the husband was. [...]
[...] The Convention also protects the right to marriage provided for in Article 12, which states that 'From the age of majority, men and women have the right to marry and found a family in accordance with the national laws governing the exercise of this right.' Thus, provided that the spouses respect the conditions set by the Civil Code or other national law, such as the age of majority for example, any citizen has the right to marry the person they wish. The ECHR, on September condemned the United Kingdom for not respecting Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides for the right to marriage. It was a case of celebrating a marriage between a former father-in-law and his former son-in-law. [...]
[...] The ex-wife then filed an appeal, she requested a stay, that the decision be made later on the grounds that a nullity procedure of her second marriage for falsified birth certificate is already underway. The Court of Appeal then refused this request for a stay on the grounds that the request for nullity of her second marriage will not confer a new status to the third. She then filed a cassation appeal to the Court of Cassation on the same grounds. It then comes back to the Court of Cassation to ask if a request for nullity is prior to the other? The first civil chamber of the Court of Cassation responds affirmatively. [...]
[...] The first civil chamber of the Court of Cassation responds negatively to this problem. It then confirms the nullity of this second marriage and the judgment rendered by the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence on December First, it explains that, given the family history, the deceased represented more of a paternal figure because she lived with him for 16 years as a stepfather, symbolically their relationship is more filial than marital. The Court also takes into account that no child was born from this relationship, so there is no need to preserve a union in order to ensure family stability for a child. [...]
[...] The Court adds that if this union lasted so long, it is because the spouses could not act in court during the lifetime of the husband but only to contest the succession. Regarding the interference with the exercise of the right to respect for private and family life, this pursued a legitimate purpose aimed at safeguarding the integrity of the family. Finally, it specifies that the right to marriage was not affected since their union was celebrated without opposition and the spouses were able to live maritally until the husband's death. [...]
