CYIL vol. 11 (2020)

PETR ŠUSTEK CYIL 11 (2020) Article 6 (1) of the Charter states: “Everyone has the right to life. Human life is worthy of protection even before birth.” The second sentence is apparently problematic since Czech law does not recognise the legal personality of unborn children. The foetus is rather considered a part of the woman’s body. According to Section 23 of Act No. 89/2012 Coll., the Civil Code (hereinafter “Civil Code”), “[a]n individual has legal personality from birth to death” . It is necessary to stress that the term birth for legal purposes does not denote the whole process of delivery but the moment when the child is born and acquires the capacity to bear rights. Before this moment, the foetus is not a person in the legal sense and therefore, does not have the right to life. 2. When does the right to life arise? For civil law purposes, birth is defined as the extraction of the baby from the mother’s body. 15 On the other hand, the delineation of birth in criminal law is less clear. Act No. 40/2009 Coll., the Criminal Code (hereinafter “Criminal Code”) in its Section 142 establishes the crime of murder of a newborn child by its mother. This crime can only be committed by a mother who in a state of mental disturbance caused by the child’s birth intentionally kills her child during the childbirth or immediately after it (she can be then sentenced to imprisonment for three to eight years). It is undisputed that criminal law protects the life of the child even before the birth is finished. Legal literature usually claims that the child is protected from the beginning of childbirth 16 . However, this moment is defined by the experts on criminal law differently from its medical meaning. For the purposes of criminal justice, the beginning of childbirth is understood as the moment when the child (the leading part of her or his body) starts to leave the mother’s body 17 . In the case of caesarian section, the crucial moment probably takes place at the start of the surgical procedure 18 . 19 The child is only protected by criminal law if she or he is alive at the time of birth and capable of extrauterine life (even though not necessarily for a long time) 20 . 15 See for example FRINTA, Ondřej. Commentary to Section 23. In ŠVESTKA, Jiří, DVOŘÁK, Jan, FIALA, Josef (eds.). Občanský zákoník. Komentář. Svazek I [The Civil Code. Commentary. Book I]. 2 nd ed. Wolters Kluwer, Praha 2020, p. 128, or DOBROVOLNÁ, Eva. Commentary to Section 23. In LAVICKÝ, Petr (ed.). Občanský zákoník I. Obecná část (§ 1–654). Komentář [The Civil Code I. General Part (Sections 1 to 654). Commentary]. 1 st ed. C. H. Beck, Praha 2014, p. 180. 16 See for example ŠÁMAL, Pavel. Commentary to Section 140. In ŠÁMAL, Pavel (ed.). Trestní zákoník II. § 140 až 421. Komentář [The Criminal Code. Sections 140 to 421. Commentary]. 2 nd ed. C. H. Beck, Praha 2012, p. 1457. 17 See ŠÁMAL, Pavel. Commentary to Section 140. In ibid., p. 1457, ŠÁMAL, Pavel. Commentary to Section 142. In ibid., p. 1498, or FREMR, Robert. Commentary to Section 140. In DRAŠTÍK, Antonín, FREMR, Robert, DURDÍK, Tomáš, RŮŽIČKA, Miroslav, SOTOLÁŘ, Alexander (eds.). Trestní zákoník. Komentář. I. díl [The Criminal Code. Commentary. 1 st Part]. Wolters Kluwer, Praha 2015, p. 848. 18 See ŠÁMAL, Pavel. Commentary to Section 140. In ŠÁMAL, Pavel (ed.). Trestní zákoník II. § 140 až 421. Komentář [The Criminal Code. Sections 140 to 421. Commentary]. 2 nd ed. C. H. Beck, Praha 2012, p. 1457. 19 For an introduction to the approach of Czech law to the beginning of human life, see ŠOLC, Martin. Právo, etika a kmenové buňky [Law, Ethics, and Stem Cells]. Wolters Kluwer, Praha 2018, pp. 124-125. 20 See ŠÁMAL, Pavel. Commentary to Section 142. In ŠÁMAL, Pavel (ed.). Trestní zákoník II. § 140 až 421. Komentář [The Criminal Code. Sections 140 to 421. Commentary]. 2 nd ed. C. H. Beck, Praha 2012, p. 1497, or FREMR, Robert. Commentary to Section 142. In DRAŠTÍK, Antonín, FREMR, Robert, DURDÍK, Tomáš, RŮŽIČKA, Miroslav, SOTOLÁŘ, Alexander (eds.). Trestní zákoník. Komentář. I. díl [The Criminal Code. Commentary. 1 st Part]. Wolters Kluwer, Praha 2015, p. 865.

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