Anyone who has ever been a guest at court has an idea that humor is not one of the core phenomena there. Involuntary humor occurs, but can cause stomach ache in the auditorium. Because: There is little that judges are more allergic to than poorly suppressed laughter from non-lawyers who are not involved in the proceedings. You’ll be flying out of the room very quickly.
A district court in Franconia recently dealt with something very serious: a young man with a brownish disposition tried to set fire to the crime, and the public prosecutor’s office traveled from Munich. Several witnesses testify. One of them is asked if he is well acquainted with the accused. So average, he replies. You know each other “from the fraternity”.
The term “fraternity” causes the judge to frantically leaf through his documents. fraternity? He didn’t read anything about that in the files. Especially since – the judge does not say this – both the witness and the accused apparently come from a rather non-academic background. The witness, who speaks a dialect, can quickly clarify this. After that, everyone in the hall knows: Ah, “fraternity” has nothing to do with sinister, possibly right-wing student fraternities.
Almost everyone knows. Just not the prosecutor. He’s dashing like out of the TV Sunday program. But suddenly seems uncertain. Maybe he just wasn’t paying attention, he begins. But there you go: How about this fraternity?
First suppressed chuckles in the hall, the witness now seems completely at a loss. The public prosecutor still wants to know more: could he please explain it. A long pause by the witness, a slight shake of the head: My God, in the village everyone was just a “Kerwa boy” together.
Whereupon everything should be clarified – but the Munich public prosecutor looks even more as if he had seen the real Yeti in Upper Franconia. Kerwa? The defense attorney, a local resident, helps across the courtroom: “Kirch fair” is what that means! Which obviously helps the prosecutor to a limited extent. “A party?” he asks.
That’s right, a party, Herr Oberstaatsanwalt. And the witness used to be an official in the local costume. Sometimes, as such moments teach, understanding between town and country, between the south and north of Bavaria, can take a little longer – and possibly lead to stomach ache in the courtroom.