The theme this week at  wordsmith.org is archaic words.  So does it surprise you that one of those words has been used in 319 federal court opinions in the last two years?  The word is peradventure, most commonly used in opinions as “beyond peradventure.”    As a noun, peradventure means “uncertainty; doubt,” so if something is beyond peradventure, it is beyond doubt. 

In case you are wondering, I noticed this word because I like to use the phrase ‘beyond peradventure.” 

Here is an interesting blog entry on word usage in the legal world.

Elizabeth Nowicki discusses the meaning of such terms as "good faith,"� "not in good faith," "shareholder," and "stockholder." � While we may unintentionally confuse the meaning of some terms, Elizabeth points out that at least one writer has said that "the tobacco industry used the word 'zephyr' in internal memos as the code word for 'cancer' in order to obscure the serious health impacts of smoking."

I agree with Elizabeth's "position"� on word usage:  "(a) using words that the reader can understand without whipping out a dictionary, (b) erring on the side of clarity, and (c) resorting to the dictionary with Justice Scalia-esque frequency when interpreting a word whose meaning is not contextually clear."