【こぼれ話】「調査終了までは鳴いてよし」　アヒル・ガチョウ騒音訴訟で仏裁判所

【ダクスＡＦＰ＝時事】フランス南西部でアヒルとガチョウの鳴き声をめぐる訴訟があり、裁判所は19日夕、少なくとも騒音調査の結果が出るまでの間、鳥たちが鳴き声を上げ続けることを認めた。来年1〜3月に詳しい調査が実施される。被告の女性がAFPに明らかにした。（写真は飼育しているアヒルとガチョウの鳴き声がうるさいとして訴えられた、仏南西部ランド県スーストンに住むドミニク・ドゥットさん）
　原告のカップルは昨年、仏南西部ランド県スーストンに住宅を購入。近隣住民のドミニク・ドゥットさん（６７）が裏庭で飼っているアヒルとガチョウ約５０羽について、「著しい騒音」の解消を繰り返し求めたが無視されたとし、訴えを起こした。
　原告側は、騒音が１日続くごとに１５０ユーロ（約１万８０００円）の支払いと、損害賠償３５００ユーロ（約４２万円）、訴訟費用２０００ユーロ（約２４万円）の負担を求めている。
　ドゥットさんの代理人は裁判所の判断について、「調査を命じることで和解の機会を与えているとの印象」を受けたと述べた。
　フランスの地方部では動物を飼育する習慣と新しい住民のライフスタイルの対立がしばしばみられ、今年９月には、南部でニワトリの鳴く権利を認める判決が下されたことが話題となった。ほかにも、牛やロバの鳴き声や、教会の鐘の音が問題となったことがある。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/11/21-09:23）

A French court has allowed a group of ducks in the southwest of the country to keep on quacking after complaints from neighbours over their noisy behaviour, at least pending a detailed investigation of noise levels.
The case of the ducks in the southwestern Landes region was the latest in the country to pit traditions of rearing animals against the tastes of newcomers, following the well-publicised legal dispute over a rowdy rooster in western France.
A couple who bought a neighbouring property last year had complained of significant noise from the group of around 50 ducks and geese kept the backgarden of Dominique Douthe, 67, in the town of Soustons.
She told AFP that the ducks had been given a stay of execution by the court in the town of Dax in a decision issued Tuesday evening, adding that she was relieved by the ruling.
There was no proof of any kind of illicit or abnormal trouble, added her lawyer Philippe Lalanne.
He said that the judge had ordered an acoustic audit to test noise levels which would be carried out in the first quarter of next year.
I have the impression that the judge is giving us with this audit the chance to get together and discuss and find an amicable solution, he added.
The couple who brought the complaint, who insisted that repeated requests to solve the issue had been ignored, has sought 150 euros ($165) for each day the noise continued as well as 3,500 euros ($3,870) in damages and 2,000 euros ($2,200) in legal costs.
The case is one of several that have been cast as an attack on the rights of church bells to ring, cows to moo, and donkeys to bray throughout rural France.
The symbol of this battle between urban and rural France emerged as a rooster named Maurice, whose early-morning crowing so annoyed his neighbours on the island of Oleron that they took his owner to court.
The court in early September upheld the bird's right to start the day with a cheery cock-a-doodle-doo, in what was seen as a triumph for the traditions of rural France.