30 srp THE ORIGINAL PROVISIONS
The English version of the Statute uses the ‘standard’ paragraph formatting – a whole blank line separates each paragraph. In Croatia, prior to its EU entry at least, it is understood that even legislation has been written with no such spacing and without appropriate paragraph numbering or indenting. If true, the purpose is assumed to have been malign – it was to introduce additional interpretations of the laws in question. Such wrongful formatting of legal texts is assessed to favor defendants more than anyone else. The Croatian parliament, the Sabor, would have voted for these laws, perhaps expecting that they would be appropriately formatted. Some of its members probably would have known that they were not, if any such laws were passed. There may not even be a law in Croatia that stipulates the textual formatting of laws. Where private contracts have been written without such appropriate formatting, cases have been won and lost on the interpretations. The Association’s Croatian Statute has inappropriate formatting, perhaps as the result of dubious legal advice. Rectifying this matter must surely precede the official English translation. Join the Association if you want to suggest this! It may be the case that key laws in Croatia have been written in the same way. If so, rectifying this matter would go some way to increase the credibility of Croatian laws and the legal process, both of which have been criticized as being wanting.