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by dockd 875 days ago
French left its mark on the legal system and the tradition lives on in America. Several phrases use both the French and English word:

* cease and desist

* aiding and abetting

* assault and battery

2 comments

What a coincidence that I'm reading your comment on the day I learned about the origin of 'culprit' https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/culprit

> From Anglo-Norman cul. prit, contraction of culpable: prest (d'averrer nostre bille) 'guilty: ready (to prove our case)', words used by prosecutor in opening a trial, mistaken in English for an address to the defendant.

Those words are all French origin, none of them are English origin.
Well, the "and"s are all English... :)