The Use and Influence of Comparative Law in ‘Wrongful Life’ Cases

Citations to Foreign Courts—Illegitimate and Superfluous, or Unavoidable? Evidence from Europe

“…120 For example, researchers have found that in Europe a number of courts have considered foreign precedents in cases of "wrongful birth" and "wrongful life", based on non-quantitative methods. 121 While the focus of this article is on our quantitative dataset, we agree that it can be rewarding to examine individual cases of cross-citations in more detail. Thus, the subsequent section explains representative examples of foreign citations in a qualitative way, in particular with the aim to develop a taxonomy of types of cross-citations.…”

Travelling with Judges: Brief Reflections on the Roadmap on Comparative Law Developed by the Network of Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union

“…As an example, comparative-legal references can be found around the world in cases on civil responsibility for 'wrongful life.' 14 Also, judges sometimes use comparative-legal references as a means to align their interpretations with foreign peers in the framework of implementation of international treaties or participation in a supranational legal order such as the European Union. 15 The use of comparative-legal references is most common in supreme courts for a number of practical reasons, including the amount of cases which require judicial interpretation of laws and the availability of research support to conduct comparative-legal analyses (although references can be presented also by parties and their lawyers or by amici curiae).…”

Editorial<br>Highest Courts and Transnational Interaction: Introductory and Concluding Remarks

“…11 Also the arguments that are set out by Giesen fit within this scheme. 12 In his analysis of so-called wrongful life cases, he shows that also in non-commercial cases it might be 'useful' to map out all arguments for and against liability in such cases, and therefore to conduct a comparative survey. Conducting such a survey helps to mirror the national doctrine in the field and it better legitimises the decision because one can show that all relevant arguments have been included and weighed.…”