Why the European Court of Human Rights is wrong to say that same-sex couples have no human right to marry

The European Law Review have published my new article, on Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The article challenges the claim by the European Court of Human Rights that Article 12 of the Convention does not guarantee men and women with the human right to marry someone of the same sex. 

The article is called '"The Choice of Wording must be Regarded as Deliberate": Same-sex Marriage and Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights' and is published in the May 2015 issue of ELR. 

This is the abstract:

"This article provides a critical analysis of the textual interpretation of art.12 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) promulgated by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in respect of  same-sex marriage. I argue that the ECtHR’s interpretation of art.12 is based on problematic historical  claims about the textual construction of the right to marry which, when subject to scrutiny in light of available evidence relating to the drafting process of the ECHR, undermine its conclusion that art.12  extends only to opposite-sex couples. I challenge the ECtHR’s interpretation of art.12 by arguing that its  understanding of the wording of the right to marry suffers from “historical presentism”. I conclude by suggesting that a textual interpretation of art.12 need not lead to the conclusion that same-sex couples are excluded from the right to marry."

If anyone would like a copy of this article and cannot get access to the journal, please email me to obtain a copy.