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"Sed mortis causa donatio longe differt ab illa vera et absoluta donatione, quae ita proficiscitur, ut nullo casu revocetur. Et ibi qui donat illum potius quam se habere mavult: at is, qui mortis causa donat, se cogitat atque amore vitae recepisse potius quam dedisse mavult: et hoc est, quare vulgo dicatur: "Se potius habere vult, quam eum cui donat, illum deinde potius quam heredem suum".
Digests, 39.6.35.2 |
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"In a basic physics class, I asked students "You are driving down the road and slam on the brakes. You car comes screeching to a halt. Where does the energy go?"
One student replied that the energy is transferred completely to the halt and it is left shattered all over the road.
Umm. Okay."
from the "Frustrating Students Answers" thread on the CHE fora |
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Bees
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Nov. 20th, 2009 @ 05:22 pm
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"Bees, again, are wild by nature and so those which swarm in our tree are, until housed by us in hives, no more regarded as ours than birds which make a nest in our tree. Hence, if another should house or hive them, he will be their owner...[4] A swarm which flies away from our hive is deemed still to be ours so long as we have it in sight and its recovery is not difficult; otherwise it is open to the first taker."
Digests of Justinian, 41.1.5.2/4 |
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Nuns
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Nov. 15th, 2009 @ 08:23 pm
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"It is the job of parents, unless they are rich enough to pay nuns to do it for them, to train their children to alter their nature in the right direction."
The Creed in Slow Motion, Ronald Knox |
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"The impression that children were to some extent treated as belonging to the paterfamilias is strengthened by the fact that he had available to him the standard proprietary remedies of an owner. Thus, if a child was kidnapped, it was regarded as 'stolen,' which enabled the paterfamilas to recover it through a vindicatio and to sue for damages under the action for theft. Further, the praetors allowed an interdict to compel the production of a child-in-power (if unlawfully held).
Proof that the child was subject to the legal power of the claimant would lead to the grant of a further interdict, authorizing the removal of the child and its restoration to lawful potestas. This became the normal method in the Empire for the recovery of kidnapped children."
Textbook on Roman Law, Andrew Borkowski and Paul du Plessis
[Edit] Blackstone also notes the impact of kidnapping as being felt particularly by those in whose potestas the kidnappee is: "This is unqueftionably a very heinous crime, as it robs the king of his fubjects..." [Commentaries... IV.15.VIII] |
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Borkowski and du Plessis, in the 3rd edition of their Textbook on Roman Law translate the following excerpt of Pomponius
Deinde ex his legibus eodem tempore fere actiones compositae sunt, quibus inter se homines disceptarent: quas actiones ne populus prout vellet institueret certas solemnesque esse voluerunt: et appellatur haec pars iuris legis actiones, id est legitimae actiones.
as
Then about the same time actions-at-law whereby people could litigate among themselves were composed out of these statutes. To prevent the citizenry from initiating litigation any old how, the lawmakers' will was that the actions-at-law be in fixed and solemn terms. This branch of law has the name 'legis actiones', that is, statutory actions-at-law.
I would have used "any old way" for "prout vellet," and would consider "any old how" to be an odd phrasing--is this a side-of-the-pond thing or an archaism?
Americans, would you write "any old how"? Speakers of the Queen's English, would you? |
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The pound needs to go down against the dollar, NOT up. |
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"...You may say the pious Herbert could not have intended such a contradiction, because he would have thought it blasphemous, and because he took a 'sunny' view of religion...it is true George Herbert is a cricket in the sunshine, but one is accustomed to be shocked on discovering the habits of such creatures; they are more savage than they seem."
Seven Types of Ambiguity, William Empson |
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Milton
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Oct. 27th, 2009 @ 05:03 pm
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"...behind her Death,
Close following pace for pace, not mounted yet
On his pale horse...
(Paradise Lost, x.590.)
where, as saints in windows carry a gridiron, not for use, but because it is expected of them, or as newspapers tell you there is no news to-day about the latest murder, so the pale horse is mentioned because people like to be reminded it is sometimes there."
Seven Types of Ambiguity, William Empson |
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"In many languages new forms for expressing the negative have been introduced, because the old form being unstressed becomes progressively harder to hear. Hence the French pas etc. and the Englsh do with the negative. This is clear evidence that the unstressed negative gets lost inconveniently often. For that matter press correspondents regularly cable the quaint and expensive grammatical form NOT REPEAT NOT."
Seven Types of Ambiguity, William Empson |
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"Ah, my dear God, though I am clean forgot,
Let me not love thee, if I love thee not.
....There was an Archbishop Sharp who died with this couplet on his lips, and indeed, to a mind trained by dividing the word of God in the pulpit, to the febrile imagination, to the attention limited on to words remembered, of a sickbed, they might well open into extraordinary vistas of meaning.2
2: Be that as it may, the Archbishop was murdered and probably had little time."
Seven Types of Ambiguity, William Empson |
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would include, right now, being at RumFest.
Sigh. |
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"Weekly dances within college were frequently themed. Fancy-dress parties elicited some bemusing outifts, as on this occasion in 1888: Miss Saunders looked awfully handsome as Coriolanus...Miss Tabor was a capital Heathen Chinee, Miss Perkins a brown-paper parcel, and Miss Purdie a cocoa-party."
Bluestockings, Jane Robinson
Newnhamites (or others), what would you wear if going to a fancy-dress party as "a cocoa-party"? |
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from Stiff Collar
L’un des traits notables du smoking est son revers couvert de soie ou de satin. Cette invention fut mise en place pour palier à un problème récurrent au fumoir, les cendres de cigares qui tombaient sur les lainages. Ainsi, les cendres, si elles tombent, glissent sur la soie sans bruler le revers.
I haven't read this explanation before, and so have no idea whether it's true--nonetheless, it's a nice idea, and Stiff Collar, though new, is worth checking out. |
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Some time ago I posted the recipe for a drink called a Royal Highball (in the presence of Alfonse XIII of Spain, whose favourite it was) or King's Death (in the King's absence). The recipe came from Lucius Beebe's selected works, in a section where he mentioned the King's friendship with Berry Wall when they were both in Paris.
I just finished Wall's memoirs, Neither Pest nor Puritan, which wasn't much special, but was a decent evening's read. Only two quotes to show for it, both drinking related, and a caricature of Wall at Charvet (which made his shirts and their distinctive collars, as well as collars and ties for his chow chows).
I went to call on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in Cambridge, years ago, as I have said, and tea was almost over before I realised that rondel wasn't French for a round of drinks, and villanelle didn't mean a bad cocktail.
...it was here that the "E. Berry Wall Champagne punch was first concocted.
A large piece of ice in a bowl. Three lemons and one orange cut in thin slices. One cup of powdered sugar. One pint of lemon juice. One quart of brandy. One quart of whisky. Four quarts of Niersteiner. Three quarts of champagne. One half pint of Chartreuse. One half pint of Benedictine. One half pint of orange Curacao. Apollinaris if required.
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"If, after revelry, you are unfortunate enough to end up before the Beak, wear a very dark suit, white shirt, sombre tie (under no circumstances, a bow tie), black shoes and (if you are guilty or found guilty - not necessarily the same thing) a very contrite expression indeed. If it happens in the same court twice, try to wear a look of being a little insane too; sporting an odd pair of shoes (e.g. one black and one brown) might help."
History of Men's Fashion, Nicholas Story |
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"In the Corpus Iuris Civilis, it is clear, ius non scriptum signifies custom. Here again it is necessary to particularize what is meant by custom. In modern society, there are practices and conventions which are generally observed though they have no legal, only a social, sanction--there are, for example, many men who think nothing of income tax avoidance but would rather be seen dead than attend, in other than evening dress with white tie, a function at which ladies were present."
Thomas, J.A.C., Text Book of Roman Law |
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and when you make plans to come back, Craigie Street Bistro has moved and has a bar?
http://drinkboston.com/2009/01/20/craigie-on-main/
why didn't anyone tell me earlier? I would have been applying to grad school. |
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Sep. 24th, 2009 @ 11:05 am
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My first birthday in Afghanistan. Of the previous five, four were spent in Iraq:
How soon hath Time the suttle theef of youth,
Stoln on his wing my three nine and twentieth yeer!
My hasting dayes flie on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
That I to manhood am arriv'd so near,
And inward ripenes doth much less appear,
That som more timely-happy spirits indu'th.
Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure eev'n
To that same lot, however mean, or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heav'n;
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great task Masters eye. |
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An interesting idea, perhaps, but, as Housman writes,
You may be good for something, but you are not good for me. |
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