Richard Roe
1
8.9
- proper noun
- Jargon
:
Richard Roe
- In the trial, Richard Roe was used as a stand-in name for the unidentified defendant.
Examples
-
The case of John Doe and Richard Roe may be about to take a small step toward transparency.
Blog text (10) -
Mr. Oberlander had long ago acknowledged that he was Richard Roe, but on Wednesday he gently chided the judge for making the connection.
Blog text (10) -
Some accused Richard Roe of endangering John Doe's life.
Blog text (10) -
Richard Roe is the lawyer who filed the suit and, in doing so, revealed that John Doe had a past that was not disclosed to the investors:
Blog text (10) -
Mr. Oberlander responded by stating that the judge had "just put into the record that I am Richard Roe," but quickly added that the fact was hardly a secret.
Blog text (10) -
The lawyer introduced Richard Roe as a fictitious name when discussing the legal case.
-
During the proceedings, the judge referred to Richard Roe to represent an anonymous male party.
Synonyms
12
4.5
A name used for an unknown man in legal or official papers
Surface Forms
Morphology
Richard + Roe
The phrase is a conventional/legal placeholder name whose meaning ('a fictitious or anonymous male, especially a defendant') is a pragmatic convention, not a semantic combination of the parts. Knowing the constituent proper names 'Richard' and 'Roe' gives no clue to anonymity or legal usage, so a B1 learner would not be able to derive the MWE's meaning from its words.
Etymology
Richard Roe is a traditional placeholder name that court writers used alongside names like John Doe when they did not know a person's true identity. So today it means 'an unnamed or fictitious man' in legal documents.