Ninian v Findlay & ors [2019] WTLR 645

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2019 #175

Mr and Mrs Ninian were married in 1983 when he was aged 49 and she was aged 28. They had a long and loving marriage but had no children or dependents. Thirty years later, when he was aged 80, Mr Ninian was diagnosed with a progressive incurable disease, Progressive Supra-nuclear Palsy. In about August 2016, without his wife’s knowledge or assistance, Mr Ninian contacted Dignitas as he had evidently decided to end his life before his disease entered the final stages. When he told his wife of his decision, she tried to dissuade him from going through with his plan. Mr Ninian was resolute i...

R (on the application of Conway) v The Secretary of State for Justice [2018] WTLR 597

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2018 #172

The Appellant, Mr Conway, suffered from terminal motor neurone disease. He sought a declaration under s4 of the Human Rights Act 1998 that s2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961, which makes assisted suicide a criminal offence, disproportionate interferes with his right to respect for his private life under Art8 of the ECHR.

At first instance, Mr Conway put forward four main arguments:

1. The ‘blanket ban’ on the provision of assistance for suicide constituted an interference with his Art8(1) rights in a way which is disproportio...