| Applicant name | X. |
| Applicant type | Natural person |
| Country | Germany |
| Decision no. | 7770/77 |
| Date | 02/05/1978 |
| Judges | – |
| Institution | Commission |
| Type | Decision |
| Outcome Art. 8 | Inadmissible |
| Reason | Manifestly ill-founded (health and morals) |
| Type of privacy | Family privacy |
| Keywords | Custody; legitimation child |
| Facts of the case | Ghanese father and German mother have children. They seperate. Father wants to legally formalise has fatherhood and beget cutstody over the child, but German courts refuse to do so. |
| Analysis | Court stresses that there can be family life outside marriage (legal tie), but that when parents seperate, countries need to make choices. The German law provides that “the illegitimate child, as long as it is a minor, shall come under the parental power of the mother”. However, it is possible for the father to acquire parental power of the child by having it declared legitimate . This act requires the mother’s consent which can be replaced by that of the Guardianship Court where necessary. In this case, the national courts refused to do so, which the ECtHR deemed legitimate as they did so after careful deliberation in the interests of the health and morals of the child. |
| Documents | Decision |