hika12i

After “Butterfly Effect” i found another new term from TV series, John Doe. Well this time i didn’t find it from TV series Heroes, but from TV series Bones. If you didn’t know what Bones stories about, it’s like CSI. A group of people that solves murder case by identifying the bone’s victim. In some episodes of Bones they mentioned the term “John Doe” for the bones. And i started to thinking who is John Doe ? Why there are many bones of him ? Why he always become the victim ? Well, stupid me~ Thank God my brother tell me that “John Doe” was used to refer to a male corpse whose identity is unknown.

I found more information about John Doe in wikipedia :
The name “John Doe” is used as a placeholder name for a male party, in a legal action, case or discussion, whose true identity is either unknown or must be withheld for legal reasons. The name is also used to refer to a male corpse or hospital patient whose identity is unknown. This practice is widely used in the United States and Canada, but is rare in other English-speaking countries.

The female equivalent is Jane Doe, whilst a child or baby whose identity is unknown may be referred to as Baby Doe (or, in one particular case only, as Precious Doe). Additional persons may be called James Doe, Judy Doe, etc. However, to avoid possible confusion, if two anonymous or unknown parties are cited in a specific case or action, the surnames Doe and Roe may be used simultaneously – for example, “John Doe v. Jane Roe”. Other variations are John Stiles and Richard Miles, now rarely used, and Mary Major, which has been used in some American federal cases.

The Doe names are often, though not always, used for anonymous or unknown defendants. Another set of names often used for anonymous parties, particularly plaintiffs, are Richard Roe for males and Jane Roe for females (as in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court abortion decision Roe v. Wade).

Even outside specific legal and medical contexts, the name John Doe is often used in general discourse and popular culture to refer to an unknown or “typical” person. A famous example is the Frank Capra film Meet John Doe. In this context its use is very similar to that of John Q. Public or Joe Public.

Origin:
The name was used at least as far back as 1659, in England – “To prosecute the suit, to witt John Doe And Richard Roe” – and perhaps as early as the reign of England’s King Edward III.

The Oxford English Dictionary states that John Doe is “the name given to the fictitious lessee of the plaintiff, in the (now obsolete) mixed action of ejectment, the fictitious defendant being called Richard Roe”. (Note that this is in marked contrast to current Nuttall Encyclopaedia states that John O’Noakes, or John Noakes, is a fictitious name for a litigious person, used by lawyers in actions of ejectment.)

Since its original use in 1659 John Doe has been used to describe unknown men and has been used frequently in popular culture. Some of these uses include comics, albums, and was even the name of a 2002 American television series staring Dominic Purcell.