due diligence

[Victor Steinbok]

OED has a "due diligence" as a 2003 Draft Update under "due":

> due diligence n. chiefly /Law/ appropriate, sufficient, or proper care
> and attention, esp. as exercised to avoid committing an offence;
> (/Business/, orig. /U.S./) a comprehensive appraisal of a business
> undertaken by or on behalf of a prospective buyer, esp. in order to
> establish the exact scope of current assets and liabilities, and to
> evaluate future commercial potential.

With the multiple high tides of law-related shows on US TV, it may be
time to scrap the jargon restriction. Case in point:

http://goo.gl/C3Rlg
> The answers to my questions were already out there. That's a failure
> of due diligence on my part. I will try to do better.

This is from a journalist writing a follow-up on a post asking a
particular question of newspaper editors that the editors had apparently
answered in a broadcast statement. BTW, the supposed "Business" process
cited in the lemma is usually done by lawyers, so it is hard to
distinguish between the two meanings. The distinction may be more
historical--do any lawyers (in the UK perhaps?) still use "due
diligence" in the former sense?

     VS-)

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