They might also have been the actual names of real people that a particular landlord knew and decided to use. The surnames, meanwhile, both reference deer-a doe being a female deer and roe a Eurasian deer species (Capreolus capreolus) common in Britain. The names don’t appear to have any particular relevance, and it might be that the first names were chosen because they were among the most common at the time. So landlords would instead bring an action of ejectment on behalf of a fictitious tenant against another fictitious person who had allegedly evicted or ousted him.įrequently, landlords named the fictitious parties in their actions John Doe (the plaintiff) and Richard Roe (the defendant), though no one has been able to find the case where these names were first used or figure out why they were picked. Under old English common law, the actions landowners could take against squatters or defaulting tenants in court were often too technical and difficult to be of any use. The John Doe custom was born out of a strange and long since vanished British legal process called an action of ejectment.
For the reason stated above, she shall be referred to as Jane Doe, and he shall be Richard Roe.įeb 2012 - Why Are Unidentified People Called John or Jane Doe? In 1934 the lady, at that time an attractive 29-year-old widow, first met the man with whom she was to have the ill-fated romance that proved to be her undoing. Similar to Norma McCorvey, the real woman behind the Mary Doe name later became a pro-life activist. Incidentally, another abortion case was decided by the Supreme Court on the same day as Roe v. She was an unsophisticated young woman who probably would not have known what the word meant. I doubt Norma McCorvey chose the name "Roe" on her own.
Most of them use John or Jane Doe, but obviously any pseudonym will do. There is a Wikipedia article on the name "John Doe", and they list many court cases filed on behalf of people who for various reasons wish to remain anonymous. Nice try, but you and whoever wrote the article for Bustle-dot-com is wrong. "This has to do with the fact that "John Doe" and "Jane Doe" (the former being male, the latter being female) are placeholder names used to designate a person whose identity is unknown the pseudonymous surnames "Roe" and "Poe" are also used to identify parties in lawsuits who wish to remain anonymous."
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