Word Of The Day

Amercement:

Nor was this forgotten at the time of the Framing: Blackstone, for instance, who wrote in the 1760s and who has long been seen as immensely influential on the Framers, quoted that passage from Magna Carta alongside his discussion of the 1689 Bill of Rights, and characterized it as meaning “that no man shall have a larger amercement [i.e., fine] imposed upon him than his circumstances will bear.” Blackstone added that, even in his time, “it is never usual to assess a larger fine than a man is able to pay,” and also wrote that,

The quantum, in particular, of pecuniary fines neither can, nor ought to, be ascertained by any invariable law. The value of money itself changes from a thousand causes; and, at all events, what is ruin to one man’s fortune may be matter of indifference to another’s.

[“Should a Fine’s “Excessiveness” Turn Partly on the Defendant’s Wealth?” Eugene Volokh, The Volokh Conspiracy]

Amercement is word long out of common usage, but it amuses me.

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About Hue White

Former BBS operator; software engineer; cat lackey.

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