DAY v. THE UNITED KINGDOM
Inadmissible
Josep Casadevall;Nicolas Bratza
The applicant, Mr Jack Day, is a British national who was born in 1937 and lives in Lancashire. He was represented before the Court by Ms J. Starling, a lawyer practising in London. The United Kingdom Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr C. Whomersley of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. The applicant’s wife died on 16 September 1999, leaving two children born in 1960 and 1963. His claim for widows’ benefits was made on 25 May 2000 and was rejected on 22 August 2000 on the ground that he was not entitled to widows’ benefits because he was not a woman. The applicant appealed to the appeal Tribunal which heard and dismissed his claim on 27 November 2000. The applicant did not appeal further as he considered or was advised that such a remedy would be bound to fail since no such social security benefits were payable to widowers under United Kingdom law. The domestic law relevant to this application is set out in Runkee and White v. the United Kingdom, no. 42949/98, §§ 40-41, 25 July 2007.