Abstract
This research seeks to examine certain aspects of the topic outlined above, which, in the author’s opinion, give rise to sensitive problems in balancing constitutional principles that are all equally deserving of protection. An important problem relates to the necessity, or lack thereof, of obtaining consent from the relatives of the deceased prior to conducting the DNA test in question. In particular, it is necessary to understand how to reconcile the right to personal identity, enjoyed by the claimant children, with the rights of the deceased’s relatives (not necessarily his heirs) to respect for the deceased body and its right to inviolability. In this respect, it is clear that the possible acknowledgment of the primacy of the right to personal identity (within which the European Court of Human Rights has encompassed the right to know one’s personal history) and the “decisive value” placed upon the relevant scientific evidence would make it almost unavoidable to resort to genetic tests for paternity authentication.
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Notes
- 1.
This is the expression used by Pellegrino Rossi whereby the chapter titles of private law can be found in public law (P. Rossi, Lezioni di Diritto Costituzionale alla Sorbona, collected by M.A. Porée, edited by G.F. Ciaurro, A. Leoncini Bartoli and G. Negri, Roma, 1992, at 26).
- 2.
Please refer to the considerations made by L. Andrews, D. Nelkin, Il mercato del corpo. Il commercio dei tessuti umani nell’era biotecnologica, edited by M.M. Marzano, L. Parisoli, Milan, 2002, at 233 ss.
- 3.
See L. Andrews, D. Nelkin, op. cit., 234 ss.
- 4.
F.D. Busnelli, Per uno statuto del corpo umano inanimato, in S. Canestrari, G. Ferrando, C.M. Mazzoni, S. Rodotà, P. Zatti (eds.), Trattato di biodiritto. Il governo del corpo, volume II, Milan, 2011, at 2139 ss.
- 5.
For example, A. Falzea, Il soggetto nel sistema dei fenomeni giuridici, Milan, 1939, at 62.
- 6.
Ruling no. 18 of 1986, cited by P. Veronesi, Il corpo e la Costituzione. Concretezza dei “casi” e astrattezza della norma, Milan, 2007, at 6.
- 7.
With respect to comparing a dead body to “things”, among others, A. De Cupis, Cadavere, in Dig. disc. priv., sez. civ., II, Turin, 1988, at 190.
- 8.
We will employ a methodology used on related matters by P. Veronesi, op. cit., passim but esp. 48 ss.
- 9.
F. Gazzoni, L’erba voglio non cresce nemmeno nel giardino del giudice: dichiarazione giudiziale di paternità, ordini del giudice e provvedimenti abnormi, in Dir. famiglia, 4/2009, at 1178 ss.
- 10.
F. Gazzoni, op. cit., esp. 1180 ss., which should be referred to for a complete analysis of the relevant issues in the case at hand.
- 11.
This is ruling no. 21128 of 5 August 2008 by the Civil Court of Cassation, where it is emphasised that the right of the relatives to the remains of the deceased would not be considered in the case in which the technical samples were not taken from the dead body but from a biological sample taken during surgery. Please refer to A. Busacca, Analisi genetiche su “parti staccate” del corpo umano ed accertamento della paternità naturale post mortem, in Famiglia e dir., 12/2010, at 1125 ss.
- 12.
For example in the case of an adopted child where the natural mother chose to be anonymous when giving birth. See the ruling by the Constitutional Court no. 425 of 2005.
References
F.D. Busnelli, Per uno statuto del corpo umano inanimato, in S. Canestrari, G. Ferrando, C.M. Mazzoni, S. Rodotà, P. Zatti (eds.), Trattato di biodiritto. Il governo del corpo, volume II, Milan, 2011, at 2139 ss.
For example, A. Falzea, Il soggetto nel sistema dei fenomeni giuridici, Milan, 1939, at 62.
F. Gazzoni, L’erba voglio non cresce nemmeno nel giardino del giudice: dichiarazione giudiziale di paternit`a, ordini del giudice e provvedimenti abnormi, in Dir. famiglia, 4/2009, at 1178 ss.
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D’Amico, G. (2012). Genetic Testing and Authentication of Paternity after Death of the Putative Father: the Bio-history and Its “Costs”. In: Bin, R., Lorenzon, S., Lucchi, N. (eds) Biotech Innovations and Fundamental Rights. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-2032-0_11
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