arguer de sa bonne foi ou de son ignorance

English translation: argue that they acted in good faith or out of ignorance

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	arguer de sa bonne foi ou de son ignorance
English translation:	argue that they acted in good faith or out of ignorance
Entered by:	Caroline Lawrence

15:36 Apr 9, 2014

French to English translations [Non-PRO]
Slang / colloquial expression in tourist guide

French term or phrase: arguer de sa bonne foi ou de son ignorance

explanation of inscription on wall plaque in Rome fishmarket
the whole sentence is:
Elle ajoute également qu'on ne peut arguer de sa bonne foi ou de son ignorance dans l'application de cette règle

The 'rule' is that the city administrators had the right to the fish heads when they were over a certain size.
Here's a draft of what I thought it might mean, in context:

An inscription in the marble, recording the maximum size of fish for sale, establishes a curious privilege: it states that the city administrators have a right to the head (as far as the first bones) of fish over a certain size. Moreover, neither good faith nor ignorance can be used in the application of this rule. In other words, it applies to all.

Thank you for any suggestions!

Caroline Lawrence KudoZ activity Questions: 1 (none open) Answers: 0
Local time: 23:01

argue that they acted in good faith or out of ignorance

Explanation:
In other words, if the stallholders (I assume that's who it refers to) fail to comply with this rule, they can't claim that they were acting in good faith, or were unaware of it.

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Note added at 1 hr (2014-04-09 17:06:52 GMT)
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Or just "claim good faith or ignorance".

Selected response from:

philgoddard
United States

Grading comment

Thanks so much, why didn't I think of that - sometimes you just get a mental block. I should have explained that the sign is in Latin but I'm translating from a French guidebook.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

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argue that they acted in good faith or out of ignorance

philgoddard

Discussion entries: 1

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41 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

argue that they acted in good faith or out of ignorance

philgoddard
United States
Native speaker of: English

Grading comment

Thanks so much, why didn't I think of that - sometimes you just get a mental block. I should have explained that the sign is in Latin but I'm translating from a French guidebook.

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arguer de sa bonne foi ou de son ignorance

English translation: argue that they acted in good faith or out of ignorance

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arguer de sa bonne foi ou de son ignorance

English translation: argue that they acted in good faith or out of ignorance

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