A successful court appeal by members of a controversial loyalist band could set a precedent for future parades.
Thirteen members of the Young Conway Volunteers were on Monday acquitted of a provocative act during a July 12 parade in 2012.
They were accused of playing the 'Famine Song' while marching in a circle outside St Patrick's Catholic Church on Donegall Street in Belfast.
They denied playing the controversial tune, declared racist by senior judges in Scotland, which includes the line 'The famine's over, why don't you go home?'.
They instead claimed to have been performing the Beach Boys hit Sloop John B, whose melody the Famine Song uses.
Defence lawyers played songs by a Swedish folk singer, a Star Trek enthusiast and football fan chants - all to the same tune - to argue that the music itself was not provocative.
The Public Prosecution Service did not oppose the appeal after the bandsmen agreed to be bound over to keep the peace, and the Parades Commission has now accepted that the ruling "constitutes fresh information" to be considered in future cases.
The threshold for prosecution and impact on Parades Commission determinations is now unclear as a result of the ruling.
Lawyer John Greer of Reavey solicitors said the case was significant in that it "was a question of whether a tune can be sectarian".
"It then becomes a matter of perception and the phrase springs to mind of 'Honi soit qui mal y pensa' - evil be to him that evil thinks. If a person wants to see bad in another person or their actions, they will see bad.
"There are songs that have very different lyrics but played to the same tune, Wild Colonial Boy and YCV Brigade, Fields of Athenry and Fathers Advice are examples. If these tunes had been played outside St Patrick's what action, if any, would the PSNI and PPS have taken ?
"I think it is also worth pointing out that the prosecutions were brought under public order legislation which pre-dates the Parades Commission."
North Down band Bangor Protestant Boys, headed by loyalist Jamie Bryson, has been banned from marching past St Patrick's Church during an Apprentice Boys feeder parade due to take place today.
The commission ruling said a 'major' consideration was that the band had played provocative music in the vicinity of the church earlier in the year, but has now in correspondence to the Bangor band's solicitor accepted the appeal court ruling amounts to 'fresh information'.
Mr Bryson, who walks as a deacon in the band, claimed the ruling calls into question whether a tune alone can be considered sectarian or offensive.
"The fact that the PSNI had to rely on the Public Order Act to deal with the playing of a musical tune during a band parade demonstrates that the Public Processions Act is unfit for purpose," he said.
