Legal Doublets

Hello, welcome to A Way with Words.

Hello, good afternoon.

Good afternoon, who is this?

My name is Pankaj. I am calling from Dallas, Texas.

Well, welcome. We’re glad to have you.

What would you like to talk with us about?

I wanted to discuss with you about the word called part and parcel.

And I have read this word quite a lot, especially when I’ve been reading a book called Bhagavad Gita, as it is, which is a spiritual book in Hinduism.

And they have used this word quite a lot, part and parcel, part and parcel.

And I kind of researched a little bit.

But what I am very curious to know is part, which is really a part of it, and a parcel which is really whole.

So how does this whole thing come together, which is part as well as parcel?

What does it really mean and how to use it properly?

Oh, I love this. Part and parcel is just one of those expressions that you otherwise would just read past and not really look into it very carefully, right?

Right.

Part and parcel.

Right.

And it means an essential component of something, right?

It’s one of many, many legal doublets.

Part and parcel basically in that phrase mean the same thing.

Back in the 16th century, the word parcel meant an essential component of something.

So if you’re talking about a part and parcel, you’re really talking pretty much about the same thing.

And it’s the kind of expression that you see a lot in legal language, like law and order, or cease and desist, or will and testament, or soul and exclusive.

It usually appears in legal language.

But as you’re saying, you’re reading it in your religious text, right?

Yes, quite a lot, yeah.

And so it sounds like what was kind of catching you up here is that maybe to the modern ear, parcel doesn’t seem like a part.

It seems like a whole.

We think of a parcel of land as being a whole piece of land, and we think of a parcel, like a parcel from a store, being a whole collected thing.

But in truth, they’re both just smaller components.

A parcel of land is a piece of the larger landscape, or a parcel is one of many packages that you might bring home from shopping.

So it sounds like part is really a part, but parcel could be a part, but in itself it is a complete thing also.

Yeah, in this expression, parcel means a part.

So it’s redundant. And all of these doublets that Martha is talking about are redundant.

And they often are redundant because the words have different etymological origins.

Right, Martha? Some are English and some are French or some come from high language and some come from low language.

Right, which is helpful in legal terminology because you just make sure that there’s no room for error whatsoever.

Okay, makes sense. Yeah.

And in this context, the sentence goes something like this, that soul is part and parcel of God, for example.

That’s one of the places where they have used or the energy is part and parcel of the larger energy.

Right.

Something like that.

It’s essential.

Yeah.

Right.

Perfect.

Pankaj, thank you so much for your call.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you very much for taking my call.

Thank you both of you.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

So these doublets, by the way, there are actually a few triplets where these three words that more or less mean the same thing are put together in these pat phrases.

The only ones I know, they’re all legal, rights, title, and interests.

And maybe give, devise, and bequeath, if that one’s actually even rare in legalese, I believe.

Yeah, there’s also ordered, adjudged, and decreed.

Ooh, nice.

There are several like that, yeah.

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