British ban on in-laws marrying outlawed

EUROPEAN judges yesterday outlawed a British ban on marriage between parents-in-law and children-in-law.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg said denying in-laws the right to wed breached their human rights.

The ruling came in a case brought by a Warrington couple who were refused the right to marry because the man, aged nearly 60, is the father-in-law of the woman, more than 20 years his junior.

Identified in court only as B and L, they claimed the marriage ban breached the Human Convention of Human Rights, which protects the right to marry, and outlaws discrimination.

The judges were told B’s original marriage ended in divorce, after resulting in a child, named in court as C. The court heard the woman had originally married the man’s son, C, and they in turn produced a son W.

Marriage between B and L, therefore, means the husband will be grandfather to his own wife’s son.

The relationship developed after the man’s son left the marital home. Now W, the product of the son and wife’s marriage, calls his own grandfather ‘dad’.

The couple went to the Human Rights Court after being refused permission to marry by the Superintendent Registrar at Warrington Register Office.

Strasbourg judges said the British ban, although pursuing a legitimate aim of protecting family integrity, did not prevent such relationships occurring. The couple were awarded €17,900 in costs and expenses.