Media law

The tenth entry is le compte rendu nominatif, and the adjective that closes it is the word an English reader is likeliest to misfile, because a word of the same shape exists in English and belongs to grammar. « Nominative » is a case, the one a dictionary quotes a Latin noun in, and outside a grammar book it is barely used at all. Nominatif is an everyday administrative adjective and says only this: naming the name. Une liste nominative is a list with the names on it, as against a headcount; un vote nominatif records each member beside their vote; une aide nominative is attached to one named person and to nobody else. On a share or a bond the same word draws the oldest dividing line in the market: un titre nominatif stands in the holder’s name, un titre au porteur belongs to whoever has it in hand, and English renders that pair « registered » and « bearer », with no trace of a case anywhere. So this entry is reporting that names the person, and « the nominative report » would say nothing whatever.