As we reported in the Law Diary on Tuesday, there appears to be a secret code written by Mr Justice Peter Smith into his (now famous) judgment on The Da Vinci Code case. This will undoubtedly attract unfair criticism from some of the more stuffy and staid members of the legal profession.

But Mr Justice Smith has revealed the more playful side of his nature by continuing the honourable tradition of making judgments more accessible by engaging with the reader. Lord Denning famously began one case, "It was Bluebell time..." as he recounted the tale on which he was to pronounce. Another has adjudicated in rhyme and another in couplets. All of this engages the reader in what would otherwise be dry and dusty prose.

I have now cracked the code. The judge refers readers to a sentence in paragraph 52 of the judgment saying it would help readers figure out what he meant. That sentence reads: "The key to solving the conundrum posed by this judgment is in reading HBHG and DVC,'' A better clue might be for you to look at the italics in the judgment. Post your own theories below.

I've been too busy to look at this in detail myself, but it appears that the first part is a font-based system similar to what appears on the inside flaps of The Da Vinci Code, only where the characters were in bold there, they're in italics in the judgment. The first part is easy English, and then it evidently switches systems. From the posts on this page, this appears to be the breakdown:

p5: s m i t h y c o d e J
p6: a e i e x
p7: t o s t
p8: g p s a
p9: c g r e a
p10: m q w f
p11: k a
p12: d p m q
p13:z v

Enjoy,

Elonka :)

Times Online: The Judge's Da Vinci Code code