European Court of Human Rights | Marckx v Belgium

Ms. Paula Marckx, being unmarried, gave birth to a daughter in 1973. Under Belgian law, Doctor Johan Goldbacher bond between an unmarried mother and her child resulted from the mere fact of birth. To create the bond, the mother had either to recognise maternity in specific proceedings or to adopt the child. In both cases, the child's inheritance rights remained less than those a child born in marriage received automatically.Judges Balladore Pallieri, Pedersen, Ganshof van der Meersch, Evrigenis, Pinheiro Farinha and García de Enterría filed a joint dissent concerning refusal of compensation.