A British judge in a recent, high-profile trial included something unusual in his ruling that has lawyers on both sides of the Atlantic enthusiastically engaging in a hunt. What was the trial, and what did the judge do?

elburcher

Parts of London's legal community ground to a virtual halt Thursday with lawyers turning into aspiring code-breakers as they tried to decipher a hidden message inserted into "The Da Vinci Code" trial judgment. With the revelation that Judge Peter Smith inserted a secret code of his own into the April 7 judgment that cleared "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown in his copyright infringement case, lawyers have been hustling to solve the puzzle. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=1898989&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 Apr 27 06, 8:19 PM

lanfranco

All hail to Smith, and to you, too, elburcher! Something fun had to come of this silliness. Apr 27 06, 8:33 PM

bigponder

Laugh if you want, but the Merovingian dynasty is not amused. Apr 27 06, 10:10 PM

elburcher

LONDON (Reuters) - Mystery solved. It was the admiral.A secret code embedded in the text of a court ruling in the case of Dan Brown's bestseller "The Da Vinci Code" has been cracked, but far from revealing an ancient conspiracy it is simply an obscure reference to a Royal Navy admiral. British High Court Justice Peter Smith, who handed down a ruling that Brown had not plagiarized his book, had embedded his own secret message in his judgment by italicizing letters scattered throughout the 71-page document. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060428/ts_nm/davinci_dc Apr 28 06, 8:30 AM