The word “arrest” is Anglo-Norman in origin, related to the French word “arrêt” meaning “to stop” or “to stay”. In the U.S., the most common slang expression to signify arrest is “collared” (similar to the French slang, incidentally!), while in … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: August 2015
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which sought to guarantee equal rights for women, was originally introduced in Congress in 1923 but not submitted for ratification until 1972. It was ultimately ratified by 35 states (although some of these later rescinded … Continue reading
I am very pleased to feature a guest blog this week, from Rob Carter in the U.K. (welcome, Rob!). While not specifically on a legal subject, it is on an interesting historical topic that also is related to law, namely — … Continue reading
A legal fiction is a fact that is assumed or created by courts in order to apply a legal rule. Most often a feature of common law systems, perhaps the best-known (and one of the most controversial) such fictions in the … Continue reading
In 2011 I wrote a blog about the archaic form of legal action known as trial by combat. In it, I mused about whether the right to trial by combat (also commonly called ‘wager of battle’ or ‘trial by battle’) to settle … Continue reading