Constitutional Court annuls certain provisions of the Family Protection Law

Constitutional Court annuls certain provisions of the Family Protection Law

 The Constitutional Court (hereinafter as : "CC") annulled certain provisions of the Family Protection Law affecting rules of inheritance and the definition of family. Upon the initiative of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, the CC had carried out the inquiry of certain sections of the law and it announced its decision yesterday. The CC shared Máté Szabó, ombudsman's view according to which the Clauses of the law affecting rules of inheritance and the definition of family are discriminatory. The Court ruled the provisions contrary to the Fundamental Law, as a consequence of which it annulled them.

Based on the reasoning, the law had an excessively restrictive interpretation of the notion of family when it was defined as a marriage between a man and a woman plus their direct descendants or adopted children. Regarding the rules of inheritance, the CC stated that the legal order of inheritance has to be unambiguous. The provisions examined were, however, in contradiction with the Civil Code to an extent that could not be resolved by way of the law-applier's interpretation. Consequently, they violate the legal certainty.