Ian’s Legal Fact of the Week 8/31/15: The Origins of “Arrest”

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 the U.K. the most common slang expression is to be “nicked” or “pinched”.

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