Fred's "American Legal Quotations" scores a hit

[Shapiro, Fred]

Joel,

I appreciate your reference to my book in the subject headings of so many postings.  But did the Oxford Dictionary of American Legal Quotations have some connection to this story?  I know the "ham sandwich" quote is in that book, but is there some other way the book scored a hit?

Fred Shapiro



________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Joel S. Berson [Berson at ATT.NET]
Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 7:57 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Fred's "American Legal Quotations" scores a hit

"There is a famous saying, a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich,"
said Bassil.  "I look forward to challenging this in court.  I really
do.  If a grand jury is supposed to protect citizens from
overreaching prosecutors, then there is a lot of work to be done here."

Bassil, counsel for Shayanna Jenkins, Aaron Hernandez's fiancee and
baby mother, is objecting to her indictment for perjury by a Bristol
County, Massachusetts, grand jury.  A spokesman for the Bristol
District Attorney "defended the grand jury process, noting that the
indictment was voted on by the grand jurors, who are citizens of
Bristol County."

Boston Globe, today.

Massachusetts has a long history of grand juries not indicting ham
sandwiches, dating from colonial times, when if a law was considered
overly severe or its punishment harsh, the citizens of a grand jury
might refuse to indict and those of a petit jury refuse to
convict.  (One good example is charges of adultery.)  Bassil seems
not to understand the rectitude of Massachusetts grand juries -- if
this one thought the charge was unjust, it would not have voted to indict.

Joel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org