First Court Case
| Foy v An t-Ard Chláraitheoir | |
|---|---|
| Court | High Court of Ireland |
| Full case name | Foy -v- An t-Ard Chláraitheoir, Ireland and the Attorney General |
| Date decided | 19 October 2007 |
| Citation(s) | IEHC 470 |
| Judge(s) sitting | Liam McKechnie |
| Case history | |
| Prior action(s) | Foy v. An t-Ard Chlaraitheoir & Ors IEHC 116 |
Foy began legal proceedings in April 1997, to challenge the refusal of the Registrar General to issue her with a new birth certificate. Unemployed, Foy was represented in the action by Free Legal Advice Centres. The basis of her action was a contention that the Births and Deaths Registration (Ireland) Act 1863 did not justify the practice of using solely biological indicators existing at the time of birth to determine sex for the purposes of registration. According to Foy, she had been born a "congenitally disabled woman" and the error recording her sex on her birth certificate was not only embarrassing to her but also could interfere with her constitutional rights, as she would be unable to ever choose to marry a man.
The case reached the High Court in October 2000. Foy's former wife and their daughters contested her plea, claiming that it could have "an adverse effect on their succession and other rights."
Judgment was reserved for nearly two years until 9 July 2002 when Mr Justice Liam McKechnie rejected Lydia Foy's challenge, stating that Foy had been born male based on medical and scientific evidence and that accordingly the registration could not be changed. He did express concern about the position of transsexuals in Ireland, however, and called on the government to urgently review the matter.
Read more about this topic: Lydia Foy
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