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Human Rights and Human Remains: the Impact of Dödsbo v Sweden
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 July 2008
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The legal revolution brought about by the Human Rights Act 1998 has affected arcane legal areas such as the law of exhumation, by questioning whether refusal to grant an application to exhume and move a dead body would breach the applicant's human rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). While the Consistory Courts have been quick to develop arguments based on human rights, the majority of the European Court of Human Rights in its recent judgment in Dödsbo v Sweden showed a greater reluctance to do so, emphasising the fact that although the refusal to exhume may interfere with the applicant's human rights, such an interference could be valid under the terms of the ECHR.
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References
2 Petchey, P, ‘Exhumation Reconsidered’ (2001) 6 Ecc LJ 122 at p 132.Google Scholar
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5 Re Durrington Cemetery [2001] Fam 33, 19 CCCC No 17, (2000) 6 Ecc LJ 80, Chichester Cons Ct.Google Scholar
6 Which under the Alsager test is a persuasive justification for refusal of a faculty.Google Scholar
7 The judgment was delivered on 5 June 2000; the Act came into force on 1 October 2000.Google Scholar
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