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MARCKX v. BELGIUM JUDGMENT
PARTLY DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE THÓR VILHJÁLMSSON
that there was in fact a family life between Alexandra and her grandmother,
her aunt or any other of her mother’s relatives. If that had been so, little
Alexandra would have been entitled to respect for that family life under
Article 8 (art. 8). The situation would have been the same if Alexandra had
been living with, for example, a married couple in no way related to her by
blood. I fail to find an obligation to have special legal rules on the
relationship between a child born out of wedlock and his mother’s relatives.
It also seems to me that the practical consequences of such rules would be
minimal, apart from the financial implications that are dealt with in
paragraph 5 below.
5. On the patrimonial rights relied on by the applicants
This question is dealt with under items 8 to 15 of the operative provisions
of the judgment. I voted with the minority on items 10 and 12.
In my opinion, a comparative interpretation of Article 8 (art. 8) of the
Convention on the one hand and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (P1-1) on the
other shows that Article 8 (art. 8) does not deal with the financial side of the
relationship between the two applicants. The drafting history of these two
provisions bears this out. As I see it, this leads to the conclusion that there
was no breach either of Article 8 (art. 8) taken alone or of Article 14 taken
in conjunction with Article 8 (art. 14+8) as regards the Belgian legal rules
concerning the patrimonial rights relied on by the applicants.