Totally Useless Legal Facts

Totally Useless Legal Facts

The words "insane" and "insanity" are not recognized medical terms but rather legal ones.
The Latin term "et al." is an abbreviation of "et alii" in its plurl form (meaning "and others") and "et alius" in its singular form (meaning "and another").

Unlike B.C. (before Christ) the abbreviation A.D. (Anno Domini, "Year of Our Lord," not After Death) is properly placed in front of the year, hence, you get A.D. 500 rather than 500 A.D.

The bench in the middle of a Westminster parliament is 2 1/2 sword lengths long. This is to keep both the government and the opposition at least a sword's length away from each other in case of a heated debate.

The word "freelance" comes from medieval times when a knight's lance was free for hire and not pledged to any one lord.

The New Hampshire state motto of "Live Free or Die" is stamped on their license plates by prisoners housed in their Concord prison facility. North Carolina's license plates bear the motto "First in Flight," although they don't report an increase in prison escapee attempts.

In Italy, it is illegal to craft coffins out of anything but wood or nutshells.

The dome in Thomas Jefferson's Monticello home concealed a billiards room at a time when billiards were illegal in Virginia.

British Parliament proceedings are meant to be held in private, even though they are televised. So, if a member desires to have a secret session, he or she points to the public gallery and calls out "I spy strangers!", whereupon the members vote that "strangers do withdraw."

The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.
In the early 1900's, an elephant was actually tried, convicted, and hanged for murdering a politician's daughter during a circus parade.

When Patty Hearst was kidnapped, she was watching the TV show "The Magician," starring Bill Bixby.

The official name of the U.K. is the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." It is also the second longest county name being forty-eight letters.

The word "testify" originates from the Roman courts where men were known to swear on their testicles about the truth of the matter unlike our present day Bible system.

The most frequently visited foreign city by Americans is Tijuana, Mexico.

Pennsylvania was the first colony to legalize witchcraft.

The only seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters is "therein" -- the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, here, ere, therein, and herein.

Dueling is legal in Paraguay so long as both parties are registered blood donors.

Knights in full armor used to raise their visors to identify themselves in the presence of their king. This custom developed into the modern military salute. In every country, the salute is with the right hand. This is because, in medieval times, only right handed people could become knights as it was assumed that left handed people were descendants of the devil himself.

In the coastal provinces of Canada it is illegal to shoot a whale from a moving automobile.

The State of Rhode Island's official name is "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."

The word "sheriff" is derived from "shire reeve." In early England, each shire had a reeve who was the law for that shire. When the term was brought to the United States it was shortened to sheriff.

In Texas, it's illegal to put graffiti on someone else's cow.

Neck ties were first worn in Croatia, hence, the name cravats (pronounced "cro-vats").

Nearly fifty percent of all bank robberies take place on a Friday.

In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.

A "jiffy" is an actual measurement of time (1/100th of a second).

U.S. Interstates that run North and South are designated odd numbers which run sequentially from West to East, and Interstates which run East to West are designated even numbers which run sequentially South to North.

There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.

Police dogs are trained to respond to commands in a foreign language, commonly German and
Hungarian. This is to prevent a suspect from stopping or taking control of the dogs.

The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.

The words "Alma mater" mean bountiful mother.

Before jets were invented, "jet lag" was commonly known as "boat lag."

The raised reflectors in the middle of roadways are called Botts dots.

QANTAS, the Australian airline, started as "Queensland and Northern Territories Air Service."

If Disney's EPCOT center was a golf ball, a proportional golfer would be two miles tall.

Mr. Miranda of the famed case Miranda v. Arizona, which set up the Miranda warnings given to suspects (you have the right to remain silent, etc.), died several years later in a bar fight.