AS TO THE ADMISSIBILITY OF
Application No. 24866/94
by Sture DAHLSTRÖM and Kurt HÅKANSSON
against Sweden
The European Commission of Human Rights (Second Chamber) sitting
in private on 19 October 1995, the following members being present:
MM. G. JÖRUNDSSON, Acting President
H. DANELIUS
J.-C. SOYER
H.G. SCHERMERS
F. MARTINEZ
L. LOUCAIDES
J.-C. GEUS
M.A. NOWICKI
I. CABRAL BARRETO
J. MUCHA
D. SVÁBY
P. LORENZEN
Ms. M.-T. SCHOEPFER, Secretary to the Chamber
Having regard to Article 25 of the Convention for the Protection
of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms;
Having regard to the application introduced on 5 May 1994 by
Sture Dahlström and Kurt Håkansson against Sweden and registered on
9 August 1994 under file No. 24866/95;
Having regard to the report provided for in Rule 47 of the Rules
of Procedure of the Commission;
Having deliberated;
Decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The first applicant, a Swedish citizen born in 1931, resides at
Fagersta. The second applicant, a Swedish citizen born in 1944, resides
at Sysslebäck. Before the Commission they are represented by
Mr. Carl-Gustaf Elwe, a lawyer practising at Karlskoga.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be
summarised as follows.
When the applicants' paternal uncle died in 1954, his estate was
inherited by his wife, E.M.J. After her death on 25 January 1991, half
of the property left by her went to the uncle's heirs. According to the
estate inventory deed (bouppteckning), drawn up on 4 May 1991, these
heirs were two other children of the applicants' deceased father. The
applicants, half-siblings of the heirs, were not mentioned in the
inventory deed, as they were born out of wedlock. It is true that since
1 January 1970 a child born out of wedlock has the same right of
inheritance as a child born in wedlock, i.e. it inherits from both its
parents and their relatives. However, as the person from which the
applicants derived their claim to inheritance - their father - had died
in 1959, i.e. before 1 January 1970, the old rules still applied.
According to these old rules - laid down in Chapter 4 of the Code of
Inheritance (Ärvdabalken) - a child born out of wedlock, save for a few
exceptions of no relevance to the present case, inherited only from its
mother and her relatives. Consequently, the applicants did not inherit
from their paternal uncle and was thus not entitled to any part of the
property left by E.M.J. For the same reason, the applicants had not
inherited anything from their father when he died in 1959.
The applicants allegedly learned of the contents of the inventory
deed about three or four months after it had been drawn up. Thereafter
they unsuccessfully negotiated with the beneficiaries of E.M.J.'s
estate in an attempt to be acknowledged as beneficiaries and thus
entitled to part of the estate. These negotiations allegedly ended a
couple of months before the introduction of the present application.
Apparently, the estate was wound up in the beginning of 1994.
COMPLAINTS
1. The applicants complain that they were discriminated against, as,
being born out of wedlock, they did not, like children born in wedlock,
inherit from their father and his relatives and were, thus, not
entitled to any part of the property left by E.M.J., their paternal
uncle's wife. They invoke Article 14 of the Convention in conjunction
with Article 8 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the
Convention. They also invoke Article 5 of Protocol No. 7 to the
Convention.
2. The applicants further claim that they could not obtain a court
determination of their alleged right of inheritance, as they were not
beneficiaries and a court action, therefore, would have been dismissed.
In this respect, they invoke Article 6 of the Convention.
3. Under Article 13 of the Convention, the applicants finally claim
that they did not have an effective remedy against the alleged
violations of their Convention rights.
THE LAW
The applicants complain that they were discriminated against,
that they could not obtain a court determination and that they did not
have an effective remedy against the alleged violations of their
Convention rights.
However, the Commission is not required to decide whether or not
the facts alleged by the applicants disclose any appearance of a
violation of the Convention, as the application is inadmissible for the
following reasons.
The Commission recalls that, pursuant to Article 26 (Art. 26) of
the Convention, it "may only deal with the matter ... within a period
of six months from the date on which the final decision was taken".
According to the Commission's case-law, the "final decision" for
purposes of the six months rule must normally be regarded as the date
of the acts or decisions complained of where there exists no domestic
remedy in respect of the complaint. However, the six months period can
only begin to run from the moment the applicants learn of the act or
decision of which they complain (cf., e.g., No. 12015/86, Hilton v. the
United Kingdom, Dec. 6.7.88, D.R. 57, p. 108).
In the present case, the Commission observes that the alleged
violations of the applicants' rights all relate to the fact that they
did not inherit from their paternal uncle and were thus not entitled
to a part of the property left by his wife E.M.J. As there existed no
domestic remedy, the Commission finds that the six months period under
Article 26 (Art. 26) began to run from the moment the applicants
learned that they were not entitled to any part of that property.
The Commission recalls that E.M.J. died on 25 January 1991 and
that the estate inventory deed was drawn up on 4 May 1991. As the
applicants were not mentioned among the beneficiaries in the inventory
deed, the Commission finds that the applicants became aware that they
would not receive any part of the property left by E.M.J. at the latest
when they learned of the contents of the inventory deed. The applicants
claim that this occurred about three or four months after it had been
drawn up, i.e. sometime in August or September 1991. The present
application was introduced on 5 May 1994, which is more than six months
later.
It follows that the application has been introduced out of time
and must be rejected under Article 27 para. 3 (Art. 27-3) of the
Convention.
For these reasons, the Commission, unanimously,
DECLARES THE APPLICATION INADMISSIBLE.
Secretary to Acting President
the Second Chamber of the Second Chamber
(M.-T. SCHOEPFER) (G. JÖRUNDSSON)
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy