The Czech Republic and the Right to Family Life from the Perspective of the European Court of Human Rights

Few institutions are as rooted in history as marriage and the family, and many references can be found in the Bible to support its functions and stability. The family was first declared to be the foundation of society around 450 B.C. in the Roman Code, the so­-called Twelve Tablets. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Article 16 states that the family is the natural and fundamental unit of society and is therefore entitled to protection by society and the State. The European Convention on Human Rights (1950) provides for special protection of family life in Article 8, and any violations of this right by state institutions are judged by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (ECHR). The ability of each state to protect the right to private and family life can thus be judged by the decisions of this Court. Specifically, this text provides a quantitative and qualitative analysis of 128 unique ECHR cases identified for the Czech Republic and Article 8.