Why offer cash incentive to establish a principle?

I WAS disappointed to read of a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that may see crucifixes banned from classrooms. Now that the amended EU constitution is being ratified thanks in large part to Ireland’s recent Yes to the Lisbon Treaty, we can expect to see many more such rulings.

The Italian government was ordered by the same court to pay €5,000 compensation to the woman who found the crucifixes so disturbing in the first place. While I can understand someone taking a case on a point of principle, it is a grave error to add a financial incentive for doing so.

I think we can safely assume there will be many more cases taken in the future and not a few of them with their eye on the cash prize for getting it through the court system successfully.