CYIL 2015

VÍT ALEXANDER SCHORM CYIL 6 ȍ2015Ȏ minor children. It is therefore less interesting to describe these cases as a whole and only a few remarks will be made in their regard. In the case of T. v. the Czech Republic (no. 19315/11, judgment of 17 July 2014), the main difficulty was linked to protracted proceedings on the situation of the child and to a lack of clarity as to the decision making on the child’s temporary stays outside a child care institution with her father, who lodged the application also on behalf of the child. The Court found a violation of Article 8 of the Convention on account of the authorities’ failure to help the applicants maintain their family ties. According to the Court no violation of the Convention occurred in the case of Drenk v. the Czech Republic (no. 1071/12, judgment of 4 September 2014), which was a “classical” dispute between parents over the child. 6 The Court nonetheless complemented its case law on the types of domestic remedies to be exhausted with respect to complaints of a breach of the reasonable time requirement under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention in connection with this kind of dispute and admitted that the Czech legal order offers potential applicants a choice between a preventive (acceleratory) and compensatory remedy (request for setting a time limit for a procedural act and claim for damages under the Act on responsibility for damages caused in the exercise of public power respectively). 7 Turning back to the matter of the delivery of children, it can be pointed out that children in the Czech Republic are usually born in a maternity hospital. All expectant mothers can be admitted to a hospital where medical doctors – obstetricians and neonatologists – are available. It is also recommended that mothers stay in hospital for around 72 hours after the delivery, so that the good health of the new-born is ascertained before the mother and the child leave hospital for home. This nonetheless gave rise to two types of applications to the Court, one related to outpatient deliveries, the other to deliveries performed outside hospital. Some mothers do not find it necessary to stay in hospital after delivery when everything is all right, and some mothers do not find it useful to give birth to their child in hospital at all. 1.1 Outpatient deliveries In the case of Hanzelkovi v. the Czech Republic (no. 43643/10, judgment of 11 December 2014, adopted by five votes to two), after the delivery of her child the 6 Dozens of cases of this kind have been filed against the Czech Republic. They resulted in the Court’s finding a violation of Article 6 § 1 (on account of the length of proceedings) in approximately 13 cases and/or a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for family life) in 14 cases; a number of applications raising these issues were also declared inadmissible. 7 For the former: Article 174a of Act no. 6/2002 on courts, judges, assessors and State administration of the courts, as amended by Acts nos. 192/2003 and 7/2009. For the latter: Act no. 82/1998 on responsibility for damages caused in the exercise of public power by a decision or an incorrect official procedure, as amended by Act no. 160/2006.

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