From a wide-ranging Transblawg post on names of anonymous litigants:
Wilbur H. FRIEDMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Thomas B. FERGUSON, Director, Department of Animal Control, a state actor, in his official and individual capacities; Brett Boe; Carla Coe; Donna Doe; Frank Foe; Grace Goe; Harry Hoe; State Actors, Advisors To Defendant Ferguson, In Their Official and Individual Capacities (identities currently unknown); Marta Moe; Norma Noe; Paula Poe; Ralph Roe; Sammy Soe; Tommy Toe; Private Individuals Who Conspired With the Foregoing State Actors (identities currently unknown); Roger W. Galvin, Chairman, Animal Matters Hearing Board; Vince Voe; William Woe; Xerxes Xoe; Members of the Animal Matters Hearing Board, State Actors, In Their Official and Individual Capacities (identities currently unknown), Defendants-Appellees
Xerxes Xoe?!
My favorite legal case is something like “The City of London Versus One Bag of Nutmegs”, or something like that. I can’t google it. It was in a book by Roscoe Pound which also taught me the words words “eleemosynary”, “nugatory”, “hortatory”, and “fiduciary”.
Well, what would you have instead? Xavier Xoe?
Actually, I think Tommy Toe is the funniest. (Say it out loud!)
I note that they skipped letters corresponding to vowels, so there’s no Arthur Aoe, Ethel Eoe, Ingrid Ioe, Orville Ooe, or Ursula Uoe. And they didn’t have quite enough anonymous defendant-appellees to include Yolanda Yoe, or, best of all, Zoë Zoe.
Very amusing!
There was some drug dealer in Britain a while ago who changed his surname to Cannabis so as to add a farcical quality to his trial.
“You are charged with posession of cannabis, Mr Cannabis. I call the first witness: Xerxes Xoe.”
They also skipped Joey Joe [Joe Jr. Shabadoo], Louis Loe, and Quentin Quoe.
On the “One bag of nutmegs” tip, my favorite obscenity case is the famous A Quantity Of Books v. Kansas.
Nice to see that Ralph Roe is carrying on the tradition of his ancestor Richard.
“We know that it became standard by the time of Blackstone to use the name of John Doe for the fictitious plaintiff and Richard Roe for the equally unreal defendant in such cases (actions of ejectment). We have no idea where these names came from.”
More at
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-joh2.htm
At the hospital where I worked, “Dr. Red” was the intercom code for a fire — “Dr. Red to 9C” meant that there was a fire on 9c. They use it so as inform key people elsewhere in the hospital without alarming people unnecessarily — normal fire alarm procedure would simultaneously be taken.
Then they hired an actual Dr. Redd.
My memory is that they actually changed his name for intercom purposes.
I imagine that from time to time an actual John Doe is a defendant (or worse yet, a plaintiff against an unknown defendant).
I just came across this in (a translation of) Either/Or (in “The Rotation Method”): “One should never accept appointment to an official position. If you do, you will become a mere Richard Roe…”. The translation is from 1944; I wonder what the newer Hong&Hong translation has there.
Then comes Yolanda zoe and after her, of course, Zoe Zoe.
Who is known to the performance art world as Zoe.
Peter Flere ~ ‘Peter Several’
Bah. Aulus Agerius sues Numerius Negidius. That’s how it’s done properly.
Bauernfeind “enemy to farmers” is a pretty common last name…