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Newsgroups: es.charla.politica.misc, europa.linguas, soc.culture.scottish,
soc.culture.spain
From: "Marianna de Copons" <fut_tere@...>
Subject: French Justice against Catalan personal names
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 23:38:13 +0000 (UTC)
Organization: Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

French Justice against Catalan personal names
French Justice prevents a family in Perpinyà (capital of North
Catalonia, under French sovereignty, 120 mi. North of Barcelona) to
register their son as 'Martí' (Martin in Catalan). In 1998 this family
wanted to enter their son into the Register Office, but the French
Administration clerks refused to do so, contending that French language
ignores accented 'i' (í). Three years later, the lawsuit was still on,
and a court in Perpinyà reminded the parents that, from 2nd Termidor on,
every French citizen was bound to use French when addressing to the
Administration, and in any public act. The verdict was, later, endorsed
and hardened by a court in Montpellier. Now, when Martí is already five
years old, his parents have but one choice: to turn to the French
Supreme Court of Appeal. In case this Court does not satisfy their
claim, they would appeal to a European court.
Presència Catalana, an association in North Catalonia, has already
opened a campaign to obtain resources to pay for the lawsuit, which is
extremely expensive.
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