Italy's supreme court on Tuesday provided further ammunition for those who claim it suffers from midsummer madness. The nation's top judges ruled that people caught buying overpriced sports tickets from scalpers are not doing anything illegal - even though the act is against the law.
Quashing a fine imposed by a lower court, the Cassation Court said a man who gave a street ticket-seller double the face value to see his favourite soccer team "had no way of knowing if the man was a tout". "There is nothing in the appearance of a person offering tickets at inflated prices to indicate that he may be a scalper," the court pronounced.
The verdict was the latest in a string of controversial rulings which have raised accusations that the summer heat sparks brainstorms under the judges' wigs - particularly when it comes to sex. In its most recent sex ruling, the court gave the
thumbs up to estranged husbands who try to cajole unwilling spouses into having sex.
It turned down an appeal from prosecutors bidding to pin a sexual assault charge on a man who grabbed his estranged wife, cuddled her and insisted on renewing their physical relationship. She turned down his demands, managed to free herself and
the two came to blows. In throwing out the sex charge, the court noted that the men had "embraced her passionately and uttered words of affection, desire and frustration, with the possible intention of restoring conjugal unity".
The veteran legal eagles have ruled, among other things, that:
- sexual assault on an under-age girl is less serious if she has already had sex with others;
- a woman who removes tight jeans, even under threat, is complicit in rape;
- and patting a woman's bottom is OK if it is a "sudden and isolated" act.
The summertime rulings sparked outcries in Italy and abroad, and the judges rethought their position in later cases.
However, they still appear to get hot under the collar about physical matters, especially when the mercury starts to rise.
In a recent ruling the judges quite correctly said an unwanted kiss on the neck was sexual harrassment - but their reasoning had a distinctly Victorian ring about it: "Sexually significant acts are not confined to the genital area but also include the areas of the body that have been judged erogenous by medical, psychological and anthropological science".
