Interlocutory Order of the Court of Cassation, I Civil Section , No. 14329 of 6 June 2013

It is not manifestly unfounded the issue of constitutionality of Article 4 of law No. 164/1982 whereby it establishes that the sentence of rectification of attribution of sex  provokes the dissolution of the marriage or the cessation of its legal effects without a court decision. Such automatic consequence amounts to a violation of the right of respect for private and family life and the right to marry, as established in  the Constitution (Articles 2 and 29) and the European Convention on Human Rights (Articles 8 and 12), by injuring the right to self-determination of the person who changes sex and by interfering  in the emotional sphere and relational choices of the other spouse. The question of constitutionality has been raised also with regard to Article 24 of the Constitution (right to defense), since the spouses cannot defy against the breakup of the marriage, and to Article 3 of the Constitution (equality and non discrimination) because of the discriminatory treatment between such automatic dissolution of marriage and the cases of dissolution following a conviction of the spouse, which is decided by the other spouse.