swarb.co.uk - law index
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Ecclesiastical - From: 1996 To: 1996
This page lists 2 cases, and was prepared on 02 April 2018.
Hautanemi v Sweden (1996) 22 EHRR CD 155
1996
ECHR
Ecclesiastical, Human Rights
The applicants were members of a parish of the Church of Sweden who complained of a violation of article 9 of the Convention because the Assembly of the Church of Sweden had prohibited the use of the liturgy of the Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran Church in their parish. Held: At the relevant time the Church of Sweden and its member parishes were to be regarded as corporations of public law. Since these religious bodies cannot be considered to have been exercising governmental powers, the Church of Sweden and notably the applicant parish can nevertheless be regarded as 'non-governmental organisations' within the meaning of article 25(1). Having held that, as members of the parish, the applicants could be regarded as victims in terms of article 25(1), the Commission added, "The Commission has just found that, for the purposes of article 25 of the Convention, the Church of Sweden and its member parishes are to be regarded as 'non-governmental organisations'. It follows that the respondent state cannot be held responsible for the alleged violation of the applicants' freedom of religion resulting from the decision of the Church Assembly . . There has thus been no State interference with that freedom."
1 Citers
Williamson v Archbishop of Canterbury Archbishop of York Church Commissioners; CA 5-Sep-1996 - [1996] EWCA Civ 600
