Why you are an idiot

So you go to court and you are about to get a jolly rogering!

If you get someone to 're' present you, you are considered a ward of the state, a mute, unable to speak.

If you go on your own to present yourself before the 'judge'....


"......But 'your honour' I am only an idiot*....." 

So, let's have a look at the etymology of  the word 'idiot'.

You may be aware of the laws being made by people in the mid 1800's and 1900's, like for example the Victorian Constitution 1855, or the Australian Constitution 1901.

Armed with a legal dictionary or three, e.g. Ballentines / Black's / Bouvier's Law dictionaries may only give you one side of the story.

Therefore it is a good idea is to know the meaning to everyday words used of the period in question.

So, let's look at the word IDIOT as defined in Webster's Dictionary of 1880 (of interest is definition number 1).

*Idiot - 1. A man in private station, as distinguished from holding public office; a person in private life (see illustration above).


Some others DEFINITELY are a perfect fit to the other descriptions, but we'll put that aside for the moment.

The entire dictionary (300MB) can be downloaded from the link below :

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B21_coIgIYu2TGJTbVg5dEFyb0U