Danish example --- That is a brilliant example indeed!

I agree with you in that there can be a real gap between legal/formal apologies and humane/sincere apologies, and their outcomes might well be very different for the offended part.

In the context of institutions and States, public apologies are a very powerful form of reparation (acknowledgment of the wrongdoing and, sometimes, guarantees of non-repetition).

However, in the context of personal relations, formal/legal apologies might be of poor value as compared to humane/atonement apologies :)

Source author: Liliana Oliva Bernal loliva@sre.gob.mx