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 the context of Continental legal systems, this concept is paramount in penal law. In certain civil law nations, judges are empowered to reinterpret the facts of a case to ensure that the accusations are substantiated by the available evidence.