"Res Ipsa Loquitur" The Thing Speaks for Itself
In 1986 a United States Federal District Court held in a discrimination case that transvestites are "handicapped."Posted by jeremystock at November 18, 2003 11:57 AM | TrackBackLegal philosopher Jeremy Bentham arranged in his will to have his body preserved and, on certain occasions, to be placed in a chair at gatherings of his friends and disciples, for the purpose of celebrating his philosophy. It is said that this direction is still observed at the University of London where his remains are kept in a glass case. They go so far as to dress him up complete with his walking stick "dapple."
Under medieval common law a women who claimed to be pregnant with an heir could be subjected to a humiliating procedure by those who would be cut [out of the will] by the birth. They could obtain a writ de ventre inspiciendo. The writ directs that in the presence of knights and women, the female tractari per whera et per ventrem-- be handled (examined) all over her breasts and abdomen.
At common law a husband was liable for the civil wrongs of his wife, for the law supposed that a wife acts under her husband's direction. "'If the law supposes that,' said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, 'the law is an ass-- an idiot. If that's the eye of the law, the law's a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is, that his eye may be opened by experience-- experience.'" ~~Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist