Don't Mess with Prince Albert!

HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco is world famous for being a nice guy, but it is just plain rude to insult a man in his own home and the Monegasque don't take kindly to rudeness and when it comes to Monaco, a Prince's Principality is his castle. Around midnight on Tuesday a very intoxicated Frenchman came into a Monaco bar demanding a drink. The establishment would not serve the man as he was clearly drunk. At that point the man became insulting and a bit hostile so the police were called (and it never takes them long to arrive in Monaco) at which time the man began insulting the police and in general behaving badly. Had he stopped there he might have gotten off with a night in the Monte Carlo 'drunk tank' but he proceeded to insult Prince Albert. As with a number of monarchies AND republics, such behavior is against the law. So, the man was taken into custody and charged with insulting the Sovereign Prince. Once he had sobered up the man said he had no memory of the event and that he was actually quite fond of the Prince of Monaco. But, the man should have considered the consequences before over-indulging in adult beverages. He is currently serving six days in jail for his tirade against the Sovereign Prince. Time, perhaps, to reflect on his poor choices. The man should be grateful that the police got to him before some very patriotic Monegasque citizens did otherwise he might be serving his time in the Princess Grace Hospital instead of the local jail.

Anti-Monaco Blogger Busted!

Justice has been served on the now legally certified liar and professional pain in the gluteus maximus from Los Angeles who has spent his retirement harassing the Prince of Monaco and pretty much anyone in any way connected with him. You may recall, the fellow in question tried to extort a million dollars from the Prince (claiming to be a “spy”) and then sued the Prince for breach of contract, a lawsuit that was swiftly slapped down. Since then this cranky old man with no life and a severe case of the ‘not gays’ with a burning obsession over our Sovereign Prince devoted his every waking hour to insulting, smearing and besmirching the character of the Prince and any and everyone around him. He also ‘carpet bombed’ every blog, forum and message board dealing with Monaco in an effort to spread his hate-filled rants and fling juvenile insults at anyone who dared to disagree with his accusations.

Well, the Prince kept it on the down low, as they say, but the story has now come out that Monaco’s most persistent internet enemy has been ordered by a French court (the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris) to pay Prince Albert 20,000 euros in damages and 7,000 euros in legal fees “for the publication of false and libelous materials”. In a separate case the crazed crank was ordered to pay 60,000 euros for six libelous attacks on Claude Palmero plus 3,000 euros in legal fees. In addition, he’s also been ordered to pay over 15,000 euros to Thierry Lacoste, personal lawyer of Prince Albert II, for the same reason. He was also ordered to pay 20,000 euros for two counts of slander against Andre Muhlberger along with 3,000 euros in legal fees. Three additional judgments were made against him to a tune of 30,000 euros in damages plus 9,000 in legal fees for attacks against Claudio Marzocco, Thierry Lacoste and Prince Albert II.

More judgments are to be expected in September, October and December, delayed so that the mud-slinger in question can present himself to the court and make his case. However, don’t hold your breath for that to happen as he’s ducked into his shell like a frightened turtle. Since the court ruled that he would have to pay an additional 5,000 euros per day for any offending material remaining on his blog he quickly removed it but while still protesting his innocence of course and how, despite the legal findings, still claiming everything he says is “true”. His blog now mostly consists of advertisements for his own books. He has also refused to accept his summons to court and refused every effort at communication by the court. Which of course is exactly what someone would do who is being unjustly accused right? No, there is no way this guy is getting anywhere near a court of law unless he is dragged in in handcuffs. However, it is safe to say that he will not be visiting the continent of Europe any time soon -at least not willingly, and his war of insults against the Principality of Monaco has been muzzled.

The leading liar and captain in the tin-foil hat brigade seems very worried about the findings against him despite his assertions that it is all false and the courts have no jurisdiction over him (why remove the stuff from the website then?) and has put a halt to his war of words with Monaco. However, that does not mean he has turned over a new leaf and decided to become a happy, laid back retired gentlemen. No, it just means he has taken to flinging juvenile insults at the news outlet which released the information about the judgments against him. That would be the article here. As they say, a leopard cannot change his spots and neither can a cranky old man with skin thin enough to see through. To sum up: Prince Albert -1, cranky media whore -0.

The Code Louis

In December of 1678 HSH Prince Louis I enacted a four volume overhaul of the Monegasque legal system known officially as the “Statutes of the Principality” but also known simply as the “Code Louis”. Today Prince Louis I may be best remembered for his battlefield exploits and colorful personal life but for Monaco he was also a great lawgiver and his “Code Louis” merits his ranking as one of the most far-sighted monarchs of his time. In some ways the statutes were rather ordinary. They dealt with civil law, criminal law, regulations for the municipal police and rural police (in that time Monaco consisted largely of farmland) and many other items that would have been commonplace in most any legal code in Europe. However, what made the “Code Louis” stand out was that it forbade the use of torture, something which, while not as prevalent as in the past, was still considered a legitimate tool of the state at the time. Yet, Prince Louis I went even further than that and abolished all forms of corporal punishment, probably the most common of which at that time was public flogging. To give an example, Great Britain only totally abolished judicial corporal punishment in 1948 and such laws remained on the books at least in Canada until 1972. In the United States corporal punishment remained officially legal in the state of Delaware until 1952.

The "Code Louis" still exists in the archives of the Princely Palace and is a testament to the innovation of Prince Louis I. He also, in a way, looked forward to the land-reclaiming projects of Prince Rainier III. During his reign Louis I increased the territorial waters claimed by Monaco to 30 nautical miles in order to collect more shipping levies. When the French protested Louis I replied that, "My land is so small that I must take a bit from the sea". One wonders what he would have thought of Rainier III taking that idea so literally.