Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 79
October 2005
Mancini v. Italy (dec.) - 41812/04
Decision 13.10.2005 [Section III]
Article 1 of Protocol No. 1
Article 1 para. 1 of Protocol No. 1
Peaceful enjoyment of possessions
Temporary impossibility for the applicant, who was separated from his wife, to recover the family house occupied by the former and their children: inadmissible
The applicant and his wife had adopted three children. When his wife lodged an application for judicial separation they reached an agreement on the conditions of their separation, whereby the mother would have custody of the minor children and full ownership of the family house would be transferred to the applicant on the payment of a certain sum. Enjoyment of the property was provisionally granted to the mother until the end of 2001. The court approved the terms of the agreement and declared the couple judicially separated. That approval constituted valid title for the transfer of ownership of the house. The applicant paid the agreed sum. The court then postponed the change of occupier until the end of the current school year, considering it necessary to allow the children, who were already upset by their parents' separation, to avoid a traumatic eviction from the family house. The court then granted the applicant the right to recover his house, subject to an obligation for him to assist in finding a new home. The eviction carried out by a bailiff at the applicant’s request was unsuccessful because of the mother’s absence from the house. Again taking into account the children's best interests, the court then allocated occupancy of the house to the mother. The applicant successfully challenged that decision but the eviction did not take place, as the mother had declared that she had failed to find another suitable home for the children. In the divorce proceedings, the mother was granted urgent and provisional authorisation to occupy the marital home, as the parent having custody of the children.
Inadmissible under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 – The applicant’s inability to recover temporarily the use of his property constituted interference with his right to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. The judicial decisions which led to delays in the vacating of the house were taken on the basis of the applicable legislation governing separation and divorce procedures and were justified, without any arbitrariness, by the need to protect the best interests of the minor children. The national authorities thus had to balance the applicant’s right to the full enjoyment of his possessions against the right of his children, towards whom he had parental responsibilities, to live in the family house with the parent who had been granted custody, until a suitable alternative solution could be found: manifestly ill-founded.
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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