The Volokh Conspiracy - Classical or Biblical Allusions:

What classical or Biblical allusions should law students learn -- perhaps by way of my mentioning them in class (I do a little language riddle in class for a couple of minutes once a week)? I have in mind phrases like Scylla and Charybdis, delphic pronouncements, Cassandra, and the like, phrases that satisfies both of the following conditions:

(1) They appear often enough in court decisions to be worth noting. (Cassandra may be a borderline case, but I just read it in a Texas court decision from a few weeks ago, and a quick search found another reference this past year.)

(2) Some entering law students won't know them well (Scylla and Charybdis may be borderline here; I'd also exclude herculean and sisyphean on the same grounds).

Please post suggestions in the comments.

	[Eugene Volokh, October 15, 2007 at 5:47pm] Trackbacks Classical or Biblical Allusions: What classical or Biblical allusions should law students learn -- perhaps by way of my mentioning them in class (I do a little language riddle in class for a couple of minutes once a week)? I have in mind phrases like Scylla and Charybdis, delphic pronouncements, Cassandra, and the like, phrases that satisfies both of the following conditions: (1) They appear often enough in court decisions to be worth noting. (Cassandra may be a borderline case, but I just read it in a Texas court decision from a few weeks ago, and a quick search found another reference this past year.) (2) Some entering law students won't know them well (Scylla and Charybdis may be borderline here; I'd also exclude herculean and sisyphean on the same grounds). Please post suggestions in the comments.