News Supreme Court rulings April 2014

Spouse’s letter admitting fault is not enough to file for separation charge

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According to the Supreme Court of Cassation (Judgment No. 7998, 04.04.2014), a letter addressed to the former spouse in which he or she admits responsibility for the failure of the marriage cannot be used as a prerequisite for a ruling on charges in separation.
Indeed, the Supreme Court has made it clear that such admissions cannot have the value of a confession but can be used as presumptions or clues that will then be freely evaluated by the judge.

Insulting a teacher constitutes the crime of contempt of a public official

The Supreme Court in ruling 15367/2014 clarified that a trivial insult uttered on school premises by a parent against a middle school teacher could constitute the crime of “contempt of a public official.”
In fact, the court made it clear that the middle school teacher is a public official and the exercise of his or her duties is not limited to the conduct of classes but also extends to related activities including meetings of students’ parents. The Justices affirm that for this offense to exist, it is necessary for such violation to be known by more than one person present at the time of the action, to be carried out in a spatial area specified as a public place or a place open to the public, and to be contemporaneous with the officer’s performance of the act because of or in the exercise of his public function.

Beware of the dog in the purse

By ruling no. 15492, 07.04.2014, the Justices of legitimacy ruled that the owner will be liable for damages caused by his own small dog, even if it is a small dog, if the animal, kept in the purse and of generally harmless disposition, takes a bite out of a passerby who, intrigued by the tenderness of the said animal, comes too close to the latter’s muzzle. The Supreme Court made it clear that said liability exists even when the passerby has engaged in careless conduct such as approaching with his or her face to a dog that he or she has never seen before and therefore does not know: there is liability on the owner of the animal because he or she did not keep the animal with due care and diligence.