Name-dropping creates furore in German court

Date: 16/01/1997

THE European Court of Justice is set to rule on whether failing to call someone 'Mr' is against the law.

The case stems from a dispute in Germany between a prosecuting magistrate and a judge over how to refer to an Italian national accused of breaking the highway code.

The judge in question refused to sign a ruling on the Italian's case because the magistrate had not referred to the plaintiff as Mr in the relevant legal papers.

He said the move constituted an infringement of the Italian's personal dignity.

Furthermore, he claimed the omission amounted to discrimination against EU workers which is prohibited under German law. In such cases it is normal for the prosecutor's office to use polite terms such as Mr, he said.

The papers were sent back to the magistrate, but the latter returned them without adding the disputed title. The furious judge, enraged at such an affront from a legal 'minion', once again refused to sign.

At this point, the magistrate decided to up the stakes and appealed to the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg, which ruled that the German judge was in the wrong and ordered him to authorise the documents.

The judge, who by this time was well and truly fuming, once again refused to sign and launched an appeal against the ruling at the ECJ where preliminary hearings were held last week.

The German judge is calling on the Court to clarify whether or not omitting polite forms of address runs counter to EU legislation which bans all discrimination against Union nationals.

In a previous case, the Court ruled in favour of a Greek national who complained that the German authorities had effectively changed his name during its transliteration from Hellenic to Latin script.

In that instance, the 'injured party' claimed the move was a serious and unwarranted affront to his personal dignity.