Sale in execution must be 'justifiable' - ConCourt

Courts will in future be called on to determine whether the sale in execution of houses to settle debt is justifiable, the Constitutional Court ruled on Friday. It was considering the constitutionality of sections of the Magistrates’ Court Act dealing with the sale in execution of property to settle debt. According to a report on the Finance24 site, the case involved two women from a poverty-stricken community in Prince Albert in the Karoo. Their houses were sold at much less than market value to settle a small debt they owed. The court found that any measure which takes away a person's pre-existing access to adequate housing limits the constitutional right to housing. The process of execution against property was found to be unconstitutional where it allowed a person's home to be sold to settle a debt in unjustifiable circumstances. This should be remedied by ensuring courts have oversight of the execution process.
Full report on the Finance24 site

 

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Ban on procreation overturned in US Supreme Court

The controversial ruling by a judge barring a man from having more children because he had failed to pay child support has been overturned, reports The Washington Post. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled five to two in favour of Sean Talty, saying his sentence was too broad because it did not include a method for lifting the ban if Talty caught up with his child-support payments. Talty (32) has seven children by five women. He was required to make ‘reasonable’ efforts to avoid conception during his five-year probation after being convicted of not supporting three of the children.
Full report in The Washington Post

 

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Ruling in US lesbian custody battle

In the latest twist to a gay custody battle in the US, a Frederick County Circuit Judge in Vermont has awarded Lisa Miller-Jenkins (35) sole custody of her two-year-old daughter and ruled that she can decide whether to allow visitation by her former partner, Janet Miller-Jenkins. The women, reports The Boston Globe, were a couple in Virginia when they decided four years ago to enter into a civil union in Vermont. They then went back to Virginia and decided Lisa Miller-Jenkins would conceive through artificial insemination. Isabella was born in Virginia in April 2002. The two women later moved to Vermont before they ended their civil union. Lisa Miller-Jenkins took the child and moved back to Virginia, where civil unions are not recognised, and sued for full custody. Janet Miller-Jenkins contested the action, saying a Family Court judge in Vermont already had given her temporary visitation rights with the child.
Full report in The Boston Globe

 

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Judgment Gives Hope in Child Abuse Cases

In a landmark decision last week, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that South African courts cannot treat sexual abuse cases as equivalent to other damages cases, and that abused children must have a right of recourse against their abusers.

See      http://allafrica.com/stories/200410050281.html

And http://www.roylaw.co.za/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.article&pageID=6218762&ArticleID=2494903

 

 

French court recognises first gay family

The French courts have made a precedent-setting ruling that is being hailed by g ay activist groups. The Independent reports for the first time a gay couple have been formally recognised as parents by the French. The ruling could apply to a further 200 000 children living in homos exual families in France. Carla and Marie-Laure, and their daughters Giulietta (10), Luana, seven, and Zelina, five, have been declared one family by the French courts. Marie-Laure is the natural mother of the three children. The ruling could have far-reaching consequences for the survival of legal barriers against homosexual marriage, adoption and artificial insemination. However, Justice Minister, Dominique Perben, said no firm precedent had been set. This was a one-off case, he added.
Full report in The Independent

 

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