"With all deliberate speed" (1817); "Hope for the best" (1791)

[Baker, John]

        "With all deliberate speed" does seem to be an old legal term, though not a particularly common one.  A search for "deliberate speed" on Westlaw's federal and state case law before 1945 produces five hits, the earliest from 1844:  "The statutes of this State, bearing upon the estates of decedents and the probate court, encourage a final settlement of such property with all deliberate speed."  Murdock v. Washburn, 9 Miss. (1 S. & M.) 546 (Miss. Err. & App. 1844).

        Scott's use shows that the legal term is quite a bit older.  Unfortunately, Westlaw does not have good coverage of the older English cases.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Bapopik at AOL.COM
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 12:56 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: "With all deliberate speed" (1817); "Hope for the best" (1791)


"WITH ALL DELIBERATE SPEED"

   The NYU bookstore is featuring books on the _Brown v. Board of Education_ Supreme Court decision.  One book is titled WITH ALL DELIBERATE SPEED.
   I don't have Westlaw, but ProQuest shows that Justice Frankfurter used the term in 1944.
   However, Walter Scott beats everybody (in a line mentioning the assurance of "law-agents").