The term is most important in the penal law of Continental legal systems. In some civil law countries, judges are empowered to "recharacterise the facts" of a case to make the charges more closely align with the evidence.
In Continental legal systems, the concept plays a pivotal role in penal law. In certain civil law nations, judges are granted the power to "reinterpret the facts" of a case to align the charges with the available proof.