Post History
Chose (in action) this can be translated as ‘thing in action’. It is an intangible right which is essentially a right to sue. JC Smith's The Law of Contract 2021 3 ed, p 476. Law French us...
#2: Post edited
by
PSTH
·
2021-05-02T01:43:02Z (almost 3 years ago)
- >### Chose (in action)
- > this can be translated as ‘thing in
- action’. It is an intangible right which is essentially a right
- to sue.
- *JC Smith's The Law of Contract* 2021 3 ed, p 476.
[Law French](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_French) used "droit", which remains the French noun for "right". Why use a vaguer supernym "chose" (French for "thing"), when you can use "right" or "droit"?- >### cause [13]
- >*Cause* comes via Old French *cause*
- from Latin *causa*, which as well as ‘reason’
- meant ‘law-suit’; this was carried over into
- English legal language (it survives in terms such
- as *cause-list* ‘list of cases to be tried’) and its use
- in expressions like ‘plead someone’s cause’ led
- in the late 16th century to a more general
- application ‘goal or principle pursued or
- supported’. French *chose* ‘thing’ also comes
- from Latin *causa*, in the weakened sense ‘matter,
- subject’.
- *Word Origins* (2005 2e) by John Ayto. p 99.
- >### Chose (in action)
- > this can be translated as ‘thing in
- action’. It is an intangible right which is essentially a right
- to sue.
- *JC Smith's The Law of Contract* 2021 3 ed, p 476.
- [Law French](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_French) used "droit", and in 2021 French, [droit](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/french-english/droit) (the noun) still signifies "right". Why use a vaguer supernym "chose" (French for "thing") than the more specific "right" or "droit"?
- >### cause [13]
- >*Cause* comes via Old French *cause*
- from Latin *causa*, which as well as ‘reason’
- meant ‘law-suit’; this was carried over into
- English legal language (it survives in terms such
- as *cause-list* ‘list of cases to be tried’) and its use
- in expressions like ‘plead someone’s cause’ led
- in the late 16th century to a more general
- application ‘goal or principle pursued or
- supported’. French *chose* ‘thing’ also comes
- from Latin *causa*, in the weakened sense ‘matter,
- subject’.
- *Word Origins* (2005 2e) by John Ayto. p 99.
#1: Initial revision
by
PSTH
·
2021-03-30T07:06:34Z (about 3 years ago)
Why “chose” in action? Why not “right/droit” in action?
>### Chose (in action) > this can be translated as ‘thing in action’. It is an intangible right which is essentially a right to sue. *JC Smith's The Law of Contract* 2021 3 ed, p 476. [Law French](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_French) used "droit", which remains the French noun for "right". Why use a vaguer supernym "chose" (French for "thing"), when you can use "right" or "droit"? >### cause [13] >*Cause* comes via Old French *cause* from Latin *causa*, which as well as ‘reason’ meant ‘law-suit’; this was carried over into English legal language (it survives in terms such as *cause-list* ‘list of cases to be tried’) and its use in expressions like ‘plead someone’s cause’ led in the late 16th century to a more general application ‘goal or principle pursued or supported’. French *chose* ‘thing’ also comes from Latin *causa*, in the weakened sense ‘matter, subject’. *Word Origins* (2005 2e) by John Ayto. p 99.