''Pretty v. United Kingdom'' (2346/02) was a case decided by

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

in 2002.

Facts

Diane Pretty Diane Pretty (15 November 1958 – 11 May 2002) was a British woman from Luton who was the focus of a debate about the laws of euthanasia in the United Kingdom during the early part of the 21st century. She had attempted to change British law so sh ...

was suffering from

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most commo ...

and was paralysed from the neck down, had little decipherable speech and was fed by a tube. It is not a crime to kill oneself under English law, but the applicant was prevented by her disease from taking such a step without assistance. It is however a crime to assist another to kill themselves (section 2(1) of the

Suicide Act 1961 The Suicide Act 1961 (9 & 10 Eliz 2 c 60) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It decriminalised the act of suicide in England and Wales so that those who failed in the attempt to kill themselves would no longer be prosecuted. Th ...

). Pretty wanted her husband to provide her with assistance in suicide. Because giving this assistance would expose the husband to liability, the Director of Public Prosecutions was asked to agree not to prosecute her husband. This request was refused, as was Pretty's appeal before the

Law Lords Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

Judgment

In a unanimous judgment, the Court, composed of seven judges, found Pretty's application under articles 2, 3, 8, 9 and 14 of the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by ...

admissible, but found no violation of the Convention. Significant conclusions include that ''no right to die, whether at the hands of a third person or with the assistance of a public authority, can be derived from Article 2 of the Convention''. As concerns Pretty's right to respect for private life under Article 8, the Court considered that the interference in this case might be justified as “

necessary in a democratic society __NOTOC__ "Necessary in a democratic society" is a test found in Articles 8–11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides that the state may impose restrictions of these rights only if such restrictions are "necessary in a democra ...

” for the protection of the rights of others.ECHR judgment in case 2346/02, Para. 78
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References

{{Reflist

External links

ECHR judgment
Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights European Court of Human Rights cases involving the United Kingdom Euthanasia in the United Kingdom Euthanasia law