De Minimis Curat Lex: A Compendium of Legal Trivia

Law Library Journal

Volumn 89, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 55-57

  Healey, Paul D ^a  

^a William Mitchell College of Law   (United States)

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EID: 0347683502     PISSN: 00239283     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (22)

1. BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 431 (6th ed. 1990).
2. Fittingly, even the derivation of the word trivia is a great source of trivia. Trivia derives from the Latin trivium, which literally means "three roads" or the crossing of three roads. 18 THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY 569 (2d ed. 1989). In the Middle Ages trivium also came to refer to the three lower liberal arts (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) as taught in the universities of the time. Id. Trivial entered the language as a variation on trivium meaning something "common" or "vulgar," apparently reflecting the "down on the corner" or "gutter" associations inherent in a crossroads, but the meaning gradually shifted to that of "trifling" or "unimportant." THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1915 (3d ed. 1992). Trivia itself doesn't show up in any source until the late 1940s, when it began to be used as a pseudo-Latin derivation of trivial. THE AMERICAN COLLEGE DICTIONARY 1298 (1947). Prior editions of even the great unabridged dictionaries do not list trivia at all, although trivial and trivium are present. See, e.g., THE CENTURY DICTIONARY 6493 (1911); WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2718 (1909); WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2203 (2d ed. 1934). Trivia, in the sense it is used here, came into being with the development of trivia quiz games in Britain in the late 1960s, and finally came into full flower with the board game "Trivial Pursuit."OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, supra.
3. Fittingly, even the derivation of the word trivia is a great source of trivia. Trivia derives from the Latin trivium, which literally means "three roads" or the crossing of three roads. 18 THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY 569 (2d ed. 1989). In the Middle Ages trivium also came to refer to the three lower liberal arts (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) as taught in the universities of the time. Id. Trivial entered the language as a variation on trivium meaning something "common" or "vulgar," apparently reflecting the "down on the corner" or "gutter" associations inherent in a crossroads, but the meaning gradually shifted to that of "trifling" or "unimportant." THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1915 (3d ed. 1992). Trivia itself doesn't show up in any source until the late 1940s, when it began to be used as a pseudo-Latin derivation of trivial. THE AMERICAN COLLEGE DICTIONARY 1298 (1947). Prior editions of even the great unabridged dictionaries do not list trivia at all, although trivial and trivium are present. See, e.g., THE CENTURY DICTIONARY 6493 (1911); WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2718 (1909); WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2203 (2d ed. 1934). Trivia, in the sense it is used here, came into being with the development of trivia quiz games in Britain in the late 1960s, and finally came into full flower with the board game "Trivial Pursuit."OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, supra.
4. Fittingly, even the derivation of the word trivia is a great source of trivia. Trivia derives from the Latin trivium, which literally means "three roads" or the crossing of three roads. 18 THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY 569 (2d ed. 1989). In the Middle Ages trivium also came to refer to the three lower liberal arts (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) as taught in the universities of the time. Id. Trivial entered the language as a variation on trivium meaning something "common" or "vulgar," apparently reflecting the "down on the corner" or "gutter" associations inherent in a crossroads, but the meaning gradually shifted to that of "trifling" or "unimportant." THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1915 (3d ed. 1992). Trivia itself doesn't show up in any source until the late 1940s, when it began to be used as a pseudo-Latin derivation of trivial. THE AMERICAN COLLEGE DICTIONARY 1298 (1947). Prior editions of even the great unabridged dictionaries do not list trivia at all, although trivial and trivium are present. See, e.g., THE CENTURY DICTIONARY 6493 (1911); WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2718 (1909); WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2203 (2d ed. 1934). Trivia, in the sense it is used here, came into being with the development of trivia quiz games in Britain in the late 1960s, and finally came into full flower with the board game "Trivial Pursuit."OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, supra.
5. Fittingly, even the derivation of the word trivia is a great source of trivia. Trivia derives from the Latin trivium, which literally means "three roads" or the crossing of three roads. 18 THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY 569 (2d ed. 1989). In the Middle Ages trivium also came to refer to the three lower liberal arts (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) as taught in the universities of the time. Id. Trivial entered the language as a variation on trivium meaning something "common" or "vulgar," apparently reflecting the "down on the corner" or "gutter" associations inherent in a crossroads, but the meaning gradually shifted to that of "trifling" or "unimportant." THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1915 (3d ed. 1992). Trivia itself doesn't show up in any source until the late 1940s, when it began to be used as a pseudo-Latin derivation of trivial. THE AMERICAN COLLEGE DICTIONARY 1298 (1947). Prior editions of even the great unabridged dictionaries do not list trivia at all, although trivial and trivium are present. See, e.g., THE CENTURY DICTIONARY 6493 (1911); WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2718 (1909); WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2203 (2d ed. 1934). Trivia, in the sense it is used here, came into being with the development of trivia quiz games in Britain in the late 1960s, and finally came into full flower with the board game "Trivial Pursuit."OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, supra.
6. Fittingly, even the derivation of the word trivia is a great source of trivia. Trivia derives from the Latin trivium, which literally means "three roads" or the crossing of three roads. 18 THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY 569 (2d ed. 1989). In the Middle Ages trivium also came to refer to the three lower liberal arts (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) as taught in the universities of the time. Id. Trivial entered the language as a variation on trivium meaning something "common" or "vulgar," apparently reflecting the "down on the corner" or "gutter" associations inherent in a crossroads, but the meaning gradually shifted to that of "trifling" or "unimportant." THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1915 (3d ed. 1992). Trivia itself doesn't show up in any source until the late 1940s, when it began to be used as a pseudo-Latin derivation of trivial. THE AMERICAN COLLEGE DICTIONARY 1298 (1947). Prior editions of even the great unabridged dictionaries do not list trivia at all, although trivial and trivium are present. See, e.g., THE CENTURY DICTIONARY 6493 (1911); WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2718 (1909); WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2203 (2d ed. 1934). Trivia, in the sense it is used here, came into being with the development of trivia quiz games in Britain in the late 1960s, and finally came into full flower with the board game "Trivial Pursuit."OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, supra.
7. Fittingly, even the derivation of the word trivia is a great source of trivia. Trivia derives from the Latin trivium, which literally means "three roads" or the crossing of three roads. 18 THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY 569 (2d ed. 1989). In the Middle Ages trivium also came to refer to the three lower liberal arts (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) as taught in the universities of the time. Id. Trivial entered the language as a variation on trivium meaning something "common" or "vulgar," apparently reflecting the "down on the corner" or "gutter" associations inherent in a crossroads, but the meaning gradually shifted to that of "trifling" or "unimportant." THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1915 (3d ed. 1992). Trivia itself doesn't show up in any source until the late 1940s, when it began to be used as a pseudo-Latin derivation of trivial. THE AMERICAN COLLEGE DICTIONARY 1298 (1947). Prior editions of even the great unabridged dictionaries do not list trivia at all, although trivial and trivium are present. See, e.g., THE CENTURY DICTIONARY 6493 (1911); WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2718 (1909); WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2203 (2d ed. 1934). Trivia, in the sense it is used here, came into being with the development of trivia quiz games in Britain in the late 1960s, and finally came into full flower with the board game "Trivial Pursuit."OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, supra.
8. WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2240 (1993).
9. Id. at 1441.
10. Law Librarians Discussion List (online). Available e-mail: 〈law-lib@ucdavis.edu〉.
11. BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY, supra note 1.
12. WILLIAM JOWITT & CLIFFORD WALSH, JOWITT'S DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH LAW (John Burke ed., 2d ed. 1977).
13. THE COLUMBIA ENCYCLOPEDIA (Barbara A. Chernow & George A. Vallasi eds., 5th ed. 1993).
14. AMERICAN HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS: 1000-1904 (1938).
15. MORRIS L. COHEN ET AL., How TO FIND THE LAW (9th ed. 1989).
16. MARK A. DOMBROFF, TRIAL OBJECTIONS (1985).
17. JOHN BARTLETT, FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS (Justin Kaplan ed., 16th ed. 1992).
18. FRED R. SHAPIRO, THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN LEGAL QUOTATIONS (1993).
19. LEE EPSTEIN ET AL., THE SUPREME COURT COMPENDIUM: DATA, DECISIONS, AND DEVELOPMENTS (1994).
20. THE OXFORD COMPANION TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES (Kermit L. Hall et al. eds., 1992).
21. The Internet Movie Database (visited Feb. 5, 1997) 〈http://us.imdb.com/〉.
22. Amazon Books (visited Feb. 5, 1997) 〈http://www.amazon.com/〉.