In Anglo-Saxon England the chief magistrate of a district (or “shire”) was known as the “reeve”. The shire-reeve eventually became known as “sheriff”, or the main law enforcement officer of a county, and was used in the U.S. from the … Continue reading
Tag Archives: ian c. pilarczyk
http://www.bu.edu/law/news/legal-english-launch.shtml … Continue reading
The first suspension of habeas corpus in the U.S. was by Abraham Lincoln in April 1861 in order to protect a railroad route between Annapolis and Philadelphia which pro-Confederate forces were threatening to destroy. His action was overturned by the U.S. … Continue reading
The Seventeenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, provides for the direct election of members of the Senate by popular vote in each state, and also allows governors to make temporary appointments until a special election is held to fill vacancies. Originally, members of … Continue reading
Barrister derives its medieval origins from the word bar, referring to the wooden barrier that commonly stood near the front of the courtroom that separated spectators from judges, lawyers, court officers and parties. People admitted to practice were said to have been called … Continue reading
California passed the first anti-stalking law in 1990, following the 1989 murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer. Within 3 years every state had a similar law. Today all states have laws that also cover cyber-stalking and/or cyber-harassment. In recent years, a growing number … Continue reading
One question that I am asked from time to time has to do with the origins of the expression “passing the bar”. A common assumption is that there is some connection with admission to the legal profession and the ancient relationship between lawyers and … Continue reading
In U.S. tax law there is a distinction between gifts and windfalls. A windfall–which historically referred to fruit or trees blown down by the wind–now refers to any sudden, unearned gain such finding money on the street or buried treasure. A … Continue reading
As the Constitution gave power to the states to determine voting qualifications, prior to 1910 no states allowed women to vote. This changed with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, which prohibited United States citizens from being denied the right to … Continue reading
Arizona has a law popularly referred to as the “Stupid Motorist Law“, which renders motorists liable for the cost of their rescue. A response to the flash floods common in the Southwestern U.S., the law states that should a motorist ignore … Continue reading
A citizen’s arrest — an arrest by a non-law enforcement officer — is statutorily provided for in 49 states (North Carolina is the exception) where a citizen observes a felony being committed, or when a citizen is asked by a … Continue reading
The practice of jury nullification–where juries render a verdict in opposition to the evidence and the law–is a legacy of the common law notion of the independence of juries. Most commonly it involves juries acquitting a defendant in the face … Continue reading