First Draft of the Constitution, part 11

Chapter VI The Statement of Rights

Part I General Provisions

Article 35 Basic Rights

(1) The Kingdom acknowledges that all people are equal in their rights and that such rights are inalienable.

(2) The Kingdom and its government shall guarantee the rights set forth in this Constitution subject only to the limits defined by legislation which can be demonstrated as necessary in a free and democratic Kingdom.

Article 36 The Right to Life

(1) The most fundamental of all rights is the Right to Life.

(2) No person may be involuntarily deprived of his or her life. The Kingdom shall make no laws that invoke the penalty of death.

(3) In the instance of brain death, as determined by competent medical authority, a person's life may be ended in the following cases;

(a) The person has a written and legally binding will or living will specifically requesting euthanasia in case of brain death.

(b) The person's next of kin explicitly requests, in writing, that the person's life be ended.

(c) In the absence of either a will or a next of kin, the Royal Courts shall appoint a competent person to be the citizen's ward. Within three months of their appointment this ward shall determine, to the best of their ability, if the citizen in question would request euthanasia. This determination will be presented, in writing, to the court of appointment. The court of appointment shall then act upon this decision in a timely manner.

(4) All such termination of life shall be as swift and painless as humanely possible and shall be administered by appropriate medical personnel.

(5) In the absence of a medically determined state of brain death all forms of euthanasia are forbidden.

(6) The determination of when life begins shall be determined by the current ability of medical technology to sustain life separate from the mother.