Newspapers and coats on the chairs, can you take the place for others?

A coat or a newspaper on the armchair at the cinema or an individual, stationary on the side of the road, occupying the parking lot for the car of a friend or family member. It is not uncommon for such a thing to happen. But legally, can occupying a position improperly be considered lawful behavior? Finding an answer is not easy, explains Studio Cataldi, in the absence of a specific rule that regulates the occupation of the post for others. The issue, in fact, has not deserved the attention of either the legislator or the jurisprudence, despite genres that are the subject of daily bickering, sometimes even heated and violent. ‘friend or family member ended up in front of the Supreme Court, but only for the criminal aspect of the affair. The events had as protagonists a motorist deprived of the possibility of parking with his car and a woman who stood on the last parking space left free for her friend’s car. The man, not digesting the improper booking, had ordered the woman to move: faced with the irremovibilità of the woman, he went ahead with the car until he bumped her, albeit slightly. Result: the woman ended up in the hospital and the man got a conviction for injuries. But the sentence says nothing about the legitimacy or otherwise of the practice of reserving a seat while waiting for the owner to arrive.The only way to go, therefore, remains that of interpretation. It could be assumed that whoever occupies the position on behalf of another, at the cinema, at the theater or along the road, for example, has been delegated by the one who will later become the ‘owner’. As you have the possibility to send third parties to collect documents, to stand in line or to perform a myriad of other activities for us, it could be considered possible, in essence, also to delegate them to keep a certain place occupied. Moreover, this interpretation does not preclude particular requirements of form, given that the proxy can be easily given orally, without the written form being essential. A similar reading of the problem, however, is not without ‘drawbacks’, especially when occupied is a parking space along a public road. In fact, in order for the occupation of public land to be lawfully carried out, the presence of a car and not that of a person in its place may be considered necessary. Clearly, however, before considering the presence of a person along a parking lot as an illegitimate occupation of public land, it is necessary to have really exaggerated: if the pedestrian stays there for no more than a few minutes, just the time the driver needs. to maneuver, the reading is a bit risky, but it might make sense if a friend of the driver, who arrived at the meeting place well in advance and placed himself on the side of the road to facilitate parking In any case, rebus sic stantibus … in the absence of rules and jurisprudential interpretations (at least for now), acting according to common sense never hurts. we would like to hoard, better reflect to understand when it is appropriate to let it go and when, instead, it is reasonable to ask for the intervention of those who have the competence, in order to resolve the issue.