Talk:Praecipe

Ratiocination

"A praecipe is a legal term in the U.S. that either (A) commands..." I can understand a person or a court commanding something, but a legal term? That makes no sense at all.

"...a defendant to do appear..." -- as opposed to "appear" without the "do"?

"...and show cause why an act or thing should not be done; or (B) requests the clerk of court to issue a writ and to specify its contents."

The clerk was to "specify" the contents of the writ he just wrote? Who decided? Specify how?

"The word preacipe [sic] is base Latin." What's "base Latin"?

"The word survived long after the Roman Empire..." Most impressive (I like the aqueducts), but if it still survives, why "survived"?

"...and found its way into England, where it survived in the English law." Sounds like a globe-trotting goldfish.

"The writ was often issued to amend or change a subsequent order..." Often? Several times weren't enough "to amend or change" an order which hadn't yet been issued?

"...or to correct an error that may have been missed earlier." So it's an error-correction sort of writ?

"Its appearance in American law is not surprising..." Just as I suspected.

"...as many of the English customs and traditions were passed on." I'm not surprised.

"Today its function has barely changed..." Now that's a shocker! Is it a noun or a verb?

"...since those days of Roman times." Please don't tell me Rome is gone. I couldn't bear the shock.

-- with a wink and a tip of the hat to the original author. D021317c 03:40, 14 October 2007 (UTC)