4 ms·
Tangentially, I wonder why both the words "cease" and "desist" are necessary. Aren't they synonyms? Perhaps it's just for emphasis?
by javajosh 5y ago
Tangentially, I wonder why both the words "cease" and "desist" are necessary. Aren't they synonyms? Perhaps it's just for emphasis?
- morsch 5y agoIt has an interesting history. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_doublet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_doublet
- fogof 5y agoThey are slightly different in meaning. Cease = Stop doing it. Desist = Don’t do it again.
- dlivingston 5y ago“ A legal doublet is a standardized phrase used frequently in English legal language consisting of two or more words that are near synonyms, usually connected by "and", and in standard orders, such as "cease and desist". The doubling—and sometimes even tripling—often originates in the transition from use of one language for legal purposes to another… To ensure understanding, the terms from both languages were used. This reflected the interactions between Germanic and Roman law following the decline of the Roman Empire.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_doublet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_doublet
- thinkloop 5y agoNow we're only missing what the two languages are for "cease and desist"
- zinekeller 5y agoCease - Latin to cessare meaning "to yield", then Old French. Desist - Latin to stare (sta-re, not homonym of stair) meaning "to stand", then (still) Latin to "sistere" meaning "to stop" plus prefix de, which in this context is "an order (from top, aka court) to down (aka to you)", then Old French. Huh. So this is basically court-enforced stop and yielding to the other party.
- hackcasual 5y agoDriving without due care and attention
- dboreham 5y agoTo have and to hold.
- lelandfe 5y agoThought this was also pretty great: > Doublets may also have arisen or persisted because the solicitors and clerks who drew up conveyances and other documents were paid by the word
- svachalek 5y agoThat seems likely and probable.
- rzzzt 5y agoAre solicitors and clerks also doublets?
- marcus0x62 5y agoNo, but if a lawyer can find a way to bill you for the services of both, they will.
- djrogers 5y agoNo, but conveyances and other documents was. ;-)
- abruzzi 5y agoThis is interesting. I've always worked off the assumption that while english legal documents look like english they are actuallysomething a little special. These words get tested in court cases and opinions are written about them and what them mean. So, in this case my assumption (possibly incorrect) had been that each of those words had specific legal meaning, and perhaps a venn diagram would show 95% overlap of the sets, by using both words they get 100% overlap. (Its also why lay people shouldn't write their own contracts, because a lawyer with contract experience won't use words that haven't been tested.)
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- celticninja 5y agoCease is more like stop doing something you were already doing, where is desist is More like don't even start it. So perhaps they should be cease or desist.
- James-Livesey 5y agoPerhaps, but then one _could_ say, "I'll pick 'cease', please! I'll get back to doing it again later"
- wavefunction 5y agoOr "stop doing it and don't restart"
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- citizenkeen 5y agoMy law professor told me it was a temporal phrasing: stop doing it (cease), and don't do it in the future (desist). Otherwise I could stop for one day, or in the age of the internet one minute, and then begin again: I would have ceased and resumed.