antedating (?) "the long arm of the law" (18

[Baker, John]

        When laymen talk about "the long arm of the law," they generally
refer to the ability of law enforcement agencies to pursue crimes.  But
when lawyers talk about "long arm" jurisdiction, they mean the ability
of a court to obtain personal jurisdiction over a particular party.  I
don't know if the two phrases have a common origin.  Here's an example
of the latter from 1828:

        "But in all these cases, the court will have to decide under all
the circumstances, not only, that there has been a plain devastavit on
the part of the executor, but that the debtor consented to, and was a
party in contriving the devastavit; then indeed, a case of fraud is made
out, which the long arm of the court will reach."  Murray v. Blatchford,
1 Wend. 583 (N.Y. 1828).

        A "devastavit," which was a new term to me, is from Latin "he
has wasted" and means an executor's failure to administer a decedent's
estate promptly and properly, especially by spending extravagantly or
misapplying assets.  In the cases in question, the devastavits consisted
of executors' sales of estate properties for amounts substantially less
than their values.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Stephen Goranson
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 9:13 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: antedating (?) "the long arm of the law" (18

Milwaukie Sentinel, (Milwaukee, WI) Saturday, July 13, 1844; Issue 43;
Page 1,col D
     Multiple News Items
Category: News
[col E top]
....A Mr. Neville, of Western New York, has married a Miss Amanda Drop,
while having another wife. The long arm of the law dropped down on him,
and walked him off to prison for bigamy.

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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