The right to marry and found a family

Article 12 provides for the right to marry and found a family. In X and Y v Switzerland147 and, more recently, in ELH and PBH v UK,148 the Commission held that Art 12 was not violated by the refusal of prison authorities to provide facilities for the exercise of conjugal rights. The restrictions were considered necessary ‘for the prevention of disorder or crime’. A general prohibition, however, in psychiatric institutions, could contravene Art 12.