Inheritance tax, civil partnership and the rights of spinster sisters

Comments on the European Court of Human Rights judgment in Burden v United Kingdom (13378/05) on whether the effect of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 in extending the spousal exemption from inheritance tax to civil partners discriminated against unmarried sisters living together and other non-conjugal cohabitants, contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 art.14 and Protocol 1 art.1. Considers whether close relationships of family members were analogous to marriages or civil partnerships.