Z and Others v. United Kingdom
European Court of Human Rights
34 Eur. H.R. Rep. 3 (2002)
- Written by Meredith Hamilton Alley, JD
Facts
Four siblings (plaintiffs) suffered severe neglect and abuse at the hands of their parents. Relatives, teachers, and others filed numerous reports with social services, but social services did not take any steps to protect the siblings. Five years later, the siblings’ mother told social services that she could no longer cope with the siblings. Social services then took custody of the siblings. The siblings filed a complaint in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), alleging that the failure of the government of the United Kingdom (government) (defendant) to protect the siblings violated Article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (convention). The ECtHR heard the expert testimony of a psychiatrist who testified that social services improperly delayed action, resulting in serious psychological trauma in at least three of the siblings. It was undisputed that the neglect and abuse of the children qualified as inhuman and degrading treatment under the convention.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning ()
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
