Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 83
February 2006
Thevenon v. France (dec.) - 2476/02
Decision 28.2.2006 [Section II]
Article 34
Locus standi
Locus standi of a person who is not a family member of the deceased applicant: struck out
The applicant died three years after lodging with the Court an application in which he complained of his medical confinement and the length of his appeal proceedings, relying on Articles 5, 8 and 13 of the Convention. Having no descendants, whether legitimate, illegitimate or by adoption, and no surviving ascendants, he had left a will in which he appointed a longstanding friend as his universal legatee. She expressed her intention to maintain the applicant's application before the Court. The respondent Government submitted that she lacked the locus standi to take over the application.
Struck out: The applicant left a will in which he had appointed Ms Yahi as his universal legatee. She was not a close relative of the applicant. Ms Yahi was in fact a friend of the applicant to whom she did not claim to be closely or distantly related. Moreover, in French law a universal legatee is not an heir. The Court was bound to find it of decisive importance that the person wishing to maintain the application was neither a close relative nor an heir of the applicant, and that the rights guaranteed by Article 5 and 8 were highly personal and non-transferable.
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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