MARCKX v. BELGIUM JUDGMENT
30
JOINT DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGES BALLADORE PALLIERI, PEDERSEN, GANSHOF
VAN DER MEERSCH, EVRIGENIS, PINHEIRO FARINHA AND GARCIA DE ENTERRIA ON
THE APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 50 (art. 50)
the Golder case, the applicant has submitted no request for just satisfaction
and the Court itself had raised the issue of its own motion (the abovementioned judgment of 21 February 1975, ibid.).
In our view, a determination that the Court’s finding of a violation of
rights constitutes just satisfaction for the injured party cannot be grounded,
without more, on a decision of principle of general application; we consider
that both the assessment of what would be just to afford as satisfaction to
the injured party and the form to be given to that satisfaction must depend
on the particular facts and circumstances of each case.
In the present case, Alexandra was spared, by reason of her tender age at
the time when the relevant decisions had to be taken, the anxiety, pangs and
anguish involved in the determination of her legal status and the
consequences which it was to entail for the future. Although it was her
mother who bore the burden, the effects of the discrimination to which
Alexandra was subjected persisted, even after her adoption; this inclines us
to the view that there are good grounds for affording to Alexandra as well
just satisfaction - that is the sum of one Belgian franc - distinct from the
simple decision of principle represented by the finding of violation of her
rights.
Paula Marckx and her daughter have kept their request for compensation
to the strict financial minimum. This extreme moderation is prompted by
their common desire, born of a concern for dignity and reticence, not to take
financial advantage of the unfortunate situations in which they were placed
by the legal system that was applicable to them. Their claim is for token
satisfaction but such satisfaction, due as compensation for moral damage,
must retain a personal character adapted to the effects of the law in their
particular case; it is based, in the case of Ms. Paula Marckx and her
daughter, on the damage they have suffered and on the interest they have in
being recognised individually as victims of the legal situation brought about
by the State. What is more, neither in the Convention nor in the principles
of international law are there to be found any rules preventing the grant, on
such facts, of a token satisfaction appropriate to the individual concerned.