ReceptioGate: Public legal clarification following a decision of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court (2026) concerning The Book of Hours of Louis de Roucy

ReceptioGate: Public legal clarification following a decision of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court (2026) concerning The Book of Hours of Louis de RoucyBy decision of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court dated 7 January 2026, the proceedings concerning the volume The Book of Hours of Louis de Roucy have been definitively closed.The volume, authored by Carla Rossi and dedicated to the study and digital reconstruction of a dismembered medieval manuscript, had been placed at the centre of an extensive online polemical narrative, initiated through materials and interventions disseminated by Peter Kidd, which later became known as ReceptioGate.The Court annulled the withdrawal, by the Swiss National Science Foundation, of the research grant related to this book and held that there are no grounds to qualify the work as plagiarised or to impose sanctions. The allegations examined by the Court did not withstand judicial scrutiny. The ruling definitively clarifies that accusations and reconstructions based on online-circulated materials and claims did not find legal confirmation. It reaffirms the necessity of clearly distinguishing between public online debate and scholarly evaluation grounded in verifiable criteria and proper fact-finding.ISFiDa reiterates its commitment to the protection of medieval manuscripts, to research based on documented and verifiable sources, and to the responsible use of digital tools in scholarly communication and assessment.