Law School Term of the Day: vituperative

vituperative
adj. Using, containing, or marked by harshly abusive censure.


Encountered in Contracts, quoting Wilson v. Brett, 152 Eng. Rep. 737 (Ex. 1843):

"Gross negligence [is] the same thing as ordinary negligence 'with the addition of a vituperative epithet.'"

Law School Term of the Day: mucilage

mucilage
n.

1. A sticky substance used as an adhesive.
2. A gummy substance obtained from certain plants.


Encountered in Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville, 405 U.S. 156 (1972):

"The rule of law, evenly applied to minorities as well as majorities, to the poor as well as the rich, is the great mucilage that holds society together."

On brevity:

"According to the court, counsel were lucky that the discipline [for writing an excessively lengthy complaint] was not akin to that meted out by the chancellor in 1596 who 'decided to make an example of a particularly prolix document filed in his court. The chancellor first ordered a hole cut through the center of the document, all 120 pages of it. Then he ordered that the person who wrote it should have his head stuffed through the hole, and the unfortunate fellow was lead around to be exhibited to all those attending court at Westminster Hall.'"