Norms of the Civil Law on recognition of a person as lacking the capacity to act do not comply with the Satversme
The Constitutional Court has adopted a judgment in the case No. 2010-38-01 “On Compliance of Section 358 and Section 364 of the Civil Law with Article 96 of the Satversme of the Republic of Latvia”.
The contested norms of the Civil Law provide that a person shall be acknowledged as lacking the capacity to act if he or she is mentally ill or lack all or a large part of their mental capacity; trusteeship must be established for them; person’s capacity to act shall be restored after a person has recovered his or her health.
The applicant indicates that the contested norms restrict her right to inviolability of private life (Article 96 of the Satversme) at a greater extent that it is necessary, namely, based on the contested norms, a person is fully recognized as lacking the capacity to act and therefore he or she is denied the possibility to make substantial decision independently.
The Constitutional Court recognized that the norms do not comply with Article 96 of the Satversme.
The Court has indicated that capability of a person to act cannot be restricted at a greater extent than it is necessary for protection of rights of the person. It also follows from international liabilities of Latvia in the field of human rights that the State has the duty to establish such mechanisms for restricting capability to act that would include individual assessment of situation and selection of the most appropriate restriction for each particular situation. The regulatory framework that does not provide any liminalities, whilst establishes recognition of a person as entirely lacking the capacity to act is non-compliant with requirements of the human rights. The Constitutional Court recognized that more lenient solutions are available.
Taking into account the fact that introduction of a new normative regulation requires time the Court ruled that the Contested Norms shall become null and void as from 1 January 2012.
The judgment of the Constitutional Court is final and not subject to appeal. The Judgment shall come into force on the date of publishing it in the newspaper “Latvijas Vēstnesis”.
Linked case: 2010-38-01