In most European countries, it is Parliament’s job to make the law, the job of the police to enforce it and the role of the courts is to interpret it.
It is the duty of all three – Parliament, the police and the courts, not to be over-zealous in what they do, so the law that is applied is rational and fair to those likely to be affected by it.
In a recent case, the police in Germany were somewhat over-enthusiastic in their interpretation of their motoring laws. A German gardener has been fined and banned from driving after being found legally over the limit in charge of a lawnmower!
A court in Berlin fined him the equivalent of £275 and banned him from driving for three months after German police stopped him riding on his sit-on lawnmower on his front lawn, which was a grassed area alongside the highway, and breathalysed him. In court, he admitted he had drunk a bottle of wine, but said he hadn’t realised that his mower was covered by their drink-drive laws.
Poor man! It appears that both he and his lawns ended up being half-cut.