THE PROTECTION OF NASCITURUS WITHIN THE CIVIL LAW
Sažetak
Modern constitutions of civilized countries guarantee every person's right to life, physical and mental integrity. Since constitutional norms guarantee the protection of "human" life, this led to the question: "At what point is "human" life considered to begin?" A grand majority of legal regulations is intended for people who are already born, which is why it is often questioned whether they are adequate for the unborn, i.e. what position contemporary legal systems occupy toward conceived and unborn human life. This paper attempts to answer the question whether the legal rule "he who causes damage must compensate for it" can be applied in case of a conceived and unborn person; i.e. if an embryo, considering that it has not become a legal subject, could claim the position of "other", i.e. a human?Analyzing the German legal theory and case law, the author concludes that the civil law protects nasciturus from harm inflicted on their body or health, so a positive answer to the question could be given only from the point of view that for the right to compensation it is of little consequence when the harmful event took place; rather, what matters is the fact that, due to the event, the child was born with defects that could be qualified as damage in terms of legal regulations concerning liability.
Key words: nasciturus, civil law, legal personality, damage, legal capacity, liability.
Reference
Aicher J., Rummel, P., 1983, Kommentar zum Allgemeinen burgerlichen Gesetzbuch, 1. Band, Wien.
Astrid, B., 1995, Der Schwangerschaftsabbruch aus Zivilrechtlicher Sicht unter besonderer Berucksichtigung der Rechtsstellung des nasciturus, Berlin.
Beers, B. van, 2017, The Changing Nature of Law’s Natural Person: The Impact of Emerging Technologies on the Legal Concept of the Person, German Law Journal, Vol. 18, No. 03.
Bockemuhl, L., 1995, Schutz und Recht des Ungeborenen im deutschen und angloamerikanischen Recht, Aachen.
Brox H., Wolf, D.W., 2006, Allgemeiner Teil des BGB, 30. Auflage, Köln.
Gernhuber, J., Coester-Waltjen, D., 1994, Lehrbuch des Familienrechts, 4. Auflage, München.
Haaf, L.T., 2016, Future Persons and Legal Persons: The Problematic Representation of the Future Child in the Regulation of Reproduction, Laws, MDPI, 5(1):10.
Haaf, L.T., 2017, Unborn and Future Children as New Legal Subjects: An Evaluation of Two Subject-Oriented Approaches—The Subject of Rights and the Subject of Interests, German Law Journal, Vol. 18, No. 5.
Kandić Popović, Z., 1999, Biotehnologija: Ka evropskoj harmonizaciji, Open Society Institute, Praha.
Larenz, K., 1989, Allgemeiner Teil des deutschen Burgerlichen Rechts, 7. Auflage, München.
Laufs, A., Uhlenbruck, W., 2002, Handbuch des Arztrechts, 3. Auflage, München.
Radišić, J., 2000, Obligaciono pravo, opšti deo, šesto prerađeno i dopunjeno izdanje, Beograd.
Radišić, J., 2008, Medicinsko pravo, drugo prerađeno i dopunjeno izdanje, Pravni fakultet Union i JP Službeni glasnik, Beograd.
Simić, J., 2016, Dečak ili devojčica ili osoba? Specifičnosti pravnog položaja interseks dece, in: Opšti okvir za sprovođenje prava deteta u Srbiji i položaj posebno osetljivih grupa dece, CUPS, Belgrade.
Simić, J., 2008, Pravna zaštita nasciturus-a i nondum concpetus-a, magistarski rad, Pravni fakultet Univerzitet Union, Beograd.
Simić, J., 2018, Pravni problemi definisanja pravne zaštite Nondum Conceptus-a, Strani pravni život, 3, Belgrade.
Stojanović D., 1970, O direktnoj odgovornosti za štete koje pretrpi još nerođeno dete, Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Nišu, 9, Pravni fakultet Niš,.
Schmitt, J., 2001, Munchener Kommentar zum Burgerlichen Gesetzbuch, Band I: Allgemeiner Teil, 4. Auflage, München.
Schramm, S., 1992, Der Schutzbereich der Norm im Arzthaftungsrecht, Karlsruhe.
Steffen, E., Burkhard, P., 2006, Arzthaftungsrecht, 10. Auflage, Köln.
Šarčević, E. (ur.), 2009, Izabrane odluke nemačkog Saveznog ustavnog suda, Fondacija Konrad Adenauer.
Vodinelić V. V., 2014, Građansko pravo, Uvod u građansko pravo i Opšti deo građanskog prava, Pravni fakultet Univerziteta Union i Službeni glasnik, Beograd.
Wolf E., Naujoks, H., 1955, Anfang und Ende der Rechtsfahigkeit des Menschen, Frankfurt am Main.
Legal sources
BGB, Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch – German Civil Code.
Family Law of the Republic of Serbia, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 18/2005, 72/2011 – state law and 6/2015.
Law on Non-Contentious Proceedings of the Republic of Serbia, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 25/82, 48/88, and Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 46/95 – state law, 18/2005 – state law, 85/2012, 45/2013 – state law, 55/2014, 6/2015 and 106/2015 – state law.
Law on Succession of the Republic of Serbia, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 46/95, 101/2003 – a decision by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia and 6/2015.
Quoted verdicts
German Federal Supreme Court verdict from 1972, published in Neue Juristische Wochenschrift in 1972.
German Federal Supreme Court verdict dated Feb. 5, 1985 published in Medizinrecht, Vol. 6/1985.
German Federal Supreme Court verdict dated Dec. 6, 1988, published in Medizinrecht, Vol. 3/1989.
German Federal Supreme Court verdict dated Feb.14, 1995, published in Medizinrecht, Vol. 9/1995.
ECtHR, Paton v. United Kingdom, App. No. 8416/78, Judgment of May 13, 1980.