"Due Process" Not in OED

[Baker, John]

Fred,

        Are you sure this isn't a later translation?  Aren't most
statutes from this period in Latin?

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Fred Shapiro
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 10:29 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: "Due Process" Not in OED

One of the OED's weakest areas is legal vocabulary.  An example of an
extremely important legal term not included in the OED is "due process."
Here is the earliest example I have found; it occurs in a statute:

1344 (18 Edw. 3 St. 3)  And in case they cannot sufficiently shew, that
they have entered by due Process after Licence to them granted in
general or in special, that they shall be well received to make a
convenient Fine for the same.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF
QUOTATIONS
   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu
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