Towel Wars and Customary Law

There is a long-standing rivalry between British and German holiday goers over access to furniture and good places at the beach and around the pool. The rivalry is bitter and often peaks when a British matron sharply asks, “After all, who won the war?!?!”

We recently learned from German lawyer Ralf Hocker that one cannot expect enforcement of legal claims to beach-side or pool-side places on the basis of the typical German tactic of getting there very early and laying down a towel. As Hocker has told the world (and as was very widely reported in the British press), “A British tourist would be quite within their legal rights to ignore the reservation implied by the towels if there is nobody there.” (BBC Radio 4 interview here.)

Now we learn that German holiday goers are bitterly complaining that another group has adopted the habit, leading to very nasty conflicts.

Unfortunately, Dr. Hocker is rather confused about the law, because he limits his understanding of the law to legislation and state enforcement. He insists in his interview that there is nothing one can do “legally” if one leaves a jacket on a bar stool in front of a beer and returns to find that it has been moved away and the seat occupied. Right, that is to say, Wrong. There’s a lot one can do to enforce the custom. After all, it’s the law.