"admitted allegation"?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 3/10/2011 12:17 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>Thanks, John, that explains the usage.  And I can now see the lawyer
>standing behind the Cardinal (or on his tongue?).
>
>Joel
>
>At 3/10/2011 11:52 AM, Baker, John wrote:
>>         In a civil court, a lawsuit is initiated by filing a complaint,
>>which recites a number of allegations by the plaintiff.  The defendant
>>responds with an answer, in which each allegation is admitted or denied
>>(or some permutation thereon).  So the cardinal's usage was quite
>>unexceptional in a legal context.
>>
>>
>>John Baker

On the other hand --

In an article on the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Boston in today's
Boston Globe, Lisa Wangsness writes about the U.S. bishops' standards
of 2002 for handling sexual abuse, "Those standards established,
among other things, a zero-tolerance policy that priests be
permanently removed from ministry if a single act of abuse of a minor
is admitted or established."

The same words -- "admitted" and "established" -- as quoted from
Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia, but here applied to "acts", not
"allegations".  But then, Wangsness is not a lawyer, only a
professional in the use of English.

In fact, the 2002 standard,  in Article 5, says "Where sexual abuse
by a priest or a deacon is admitted or is established after an
appropriate investigation in accord with canon law ...".  This too
applies the adjectives to an act -- "abuse" -- not an allegation.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/06/14/policy.htm

Joel




>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>>Of Joel S. Berson
>>Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2011 11:28 AM
>>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>Subject: Re: "admitted allegation"?
>>
>>At 3/9/2011 11:06 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>> >By confession or independent verification.
>>
>>Yes, I got the intent, but part of the usage grated.  Isn't it a
>>*crime* that would be admitted (confessed), not an allegation?  "I
>>confess to the allegation" or I confess to the alleged crime"? (On
>>second reading, establishing / verifying an allegation now sounds OK to
>>me.)
>>
>>Joel
>>
>> >DanG
>> >
>> >On Mar 9, 2011 9:58 PM, "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>> > >
>> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >-----------------------
>> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> > > Subject:      "admitted allegation"?
>> > >
>> >-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>--------
>> > >
>> > > Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia is quoted as having said, in
>> > > response to the grand jury report, that  ' there were no priests in
>> > > active ministry "who have an admitted or established allegation of
>> > > sexual abuse of a minor against them." '
>> > >
>> > > NYTimes, March 9, "Philadelphia Cardinal Suspending 21 Priests", by
>> > > Catharaine Q. Seelye.
>> > >
>> > > How does an "allegation" become "admitted"?  Or "established"?
>>
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>
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