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by sdkmvx 3549 days ago
Lawyers are rather fond of such doublets and triplets. Consider free and clear, null and void, terms and conditions, and even law and order. The origin of a lot of legalisms is the historical confusion over language in ancient English courts: Latin, French, or English? Most odd legal grammar is actually of French origin.
1 comments
nzp 3549 days ago
It's one of my favourite lists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_doublet
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saghm 3549 days ago
It seems to be missing "aid and comfort" (from the clause of the U.S. Constitution about treason). Not sure if this is used anywhere else, but it seems similarly redundant from my non-lawyer perspective, in that if were only "aid" and not comfort, it seems absurd that it would be functionally different
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tzs 3548 days ago
> A legal doublet is a standardized phrase used frequently in English legal language consisting of two or more words that are near synonyms.

...

> power and authority

Should that really be on the list? Power is the capability to do something, authority is the permission to do it. Sometimes power and authority are near synonyms, such as in frontier areas with little government, but generally in a functioning, civilized society they are quite distinct.

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nzp 3548 days ago
I'd say you're quite optimistic in thinking that not little government implies power =/= authority, and quite pessimistic in thinking that little government does not imply a civilized, functioning society.

But even without getting into political debates which could get really nuanced, can't authority mean capability in this context? I'm not a native English speaker so I'm not sure, but I don't find it odd. It is also possible that these two words have different (Anglo-Saxon vs French) origin, as most of the examples listed, and that their original meaning was synonymous (of course, I'm far too lazy and tired to check that now).

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Nomentatus 3546 days ago
Law is old; in Medieval times such redundancy was considered normal - usually triple - and was very common; presumably it was considered a literate flourish, embellishment and arabesque (sorry couldn't resist a go at it myself.)
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24gttghh 3548 days ago
>but generally in a functioning, civilized society they are quite distinct.

At least we hope and pray that is the case.

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