19 February 2016
R (on the application of Steinfeld and another) v Secretary of State for Education [2016] EWHC 128 (Admin), [2016] All ER (D) 230 (Jan)
The Administrative Court held that the claimant heterosexual couple’s ineligibility to register as civil partners, under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, was not incompatible with their rights under Arts 8 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The state had fulfilled its obligations under the Convention by having made a means of formal recognition of their relationship available and the denial of a further means of formal recognition which was open to same-sex couples did not amount to unlawful state interference with the claimants’ rights to family life or private life.
