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Fantasy judgments

Foreign court decisions

Fantasy judgments

The question of the readability of judicial decisions has repeatedly been the subject of our newsletter. Translated decisions, especially from the Italian language, always lead to hilarity. We recall the recurring actress from the judgments ("l'attrice"), the inexplicable hole in the judicial authorities ("il foro di Cagliari") and the local mayor always present at society meetings ("Il sindaco della società"). But even reading the decisions in the original is not always easy. Especially due to the omission or blackening of the names of the persons concerned, witnesses and localities, the rulings are not easy to follow.

This is now taken into account by a decision of the Sicilian Supreme Administrative Court Consiglio di giustizia amministrativa (Cga, decision ref. 1134/2000). The Sicilian court will now use imaginary names for persons and places instead of blackening and omissions ("omissis") in order to improve comprehensibility for the press and the public. This is to ensure a simpler and more consistent readability of the facts in the decisions.