Some remarks on the relevance of Article 8 of the ECHR to the recognition of family status judicially created abroad

In Negrepontis-Giannisis v. Greece, of 3 May 2011 (application no. 56759/08), a Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held that the defendant State, by refusing to recognize an order for adoption entered by a court of Michigan, had violated, inter alia, Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The paper examines the main issues dealt with by the Court, in light of the previous case law of the Court itself, and outlines the relationship between the Convention, on one side, and the rules of private international law regarding the recognition of judgments, on the other.