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Sat 15 Oct, 2016 06:03 pm
Hi?
Fletcher, father of a five-year-old boy, is a lawyer,
and he failed to stick to his words, like,
'All right, I'll play ball with you after work today, son.'
'Sure, it's your birthday tomorrow, and I'm there after work, son.'
Then, he never played ball or shows up.
This goes on and on.
His ex-wife, very upset, tells him she would move to Boston with the son, Max.
Fletcher, who loves his son so much, asks for one more chance.
Here's the conversation between Fletcher and his ex-wife, Audrey.
-----------------
All right. Now let me tell you something.
I'm a bad father! I mean- I'm a bad father.
You're not a bad father... when you show up.
What if I come right after court and play ball?
Then you and I can talk before you make any rash decisions!
No, we are leaving tonight.
Give me one more chance.
I'm throwin' myself on the mercy of the court.
I lost you, but please don't make me lose Max too.
Give me a chance to be the father I started out to be.
-------------------
You know, he used the phrase 'throw oneself on the mercy of the court.'
I think I know what that is. It's like begging or pleading, right?
Fletcher is a lawyer, and I wonder if those whose job has nothing to do with law can use that phrase and it still sounds okay.
I'm neither a lawyer nor a judge or anything.
Say, my girlfriend began going out with someone else and she says she's gonna leave me.
Can I say to her,
'Please don't leave me, darling. I'm throwing myself on the mercy of the court.'
Still okay even when I'm not a lawyer?
If Fletcher wasn't a lawyer, I would've concluded, like,
'Aha. Anyone regardless of his job can use that expression. Got it.'
But he, coincidentally, is a lawyer and that's what makes it confusing.
Would you please clear that up?
@SMickey,
SMickey wrote:
Still okay even when I'm not a lawyer?
If Fletcher wasn't a lawyer, I would've concluded, like,
'Aha. Anyone regardless of his job can use that expression. Got it.'
But he, coincidentally, is a lawyer and that's what makes it confusing.
Would you please clear that up?
It's a plea for mercy that has worked its way into general use. Anyone could use it.
It looks to me as if "throwing oneself on the mercy of the court" is an expression used in the US legal system to refer to a situation where (typically) a person accused of a crime makes an early guilty plea and possibly offers words of mitigation and/or explanation, in the hope that the court will give a smaller sentence than if he/she had pleaded not guilty and caused a full trial to take place. The 'mercy' thus shown being a recognition that the accused fully admits and recognizes their wrongdoing, promises to try not to do it again, etc. It also seems to have passed into ordinary language to refer to a situation where a person admits they were in the wrong, does not atempt to justify hm/herself, and is effectively begging for mercey, leninency,. another chance etc.
In the British legal system it is made clear via "sentencing guidelines" what an accused person can expect in return for an early guilty plea, typically a reduction in sentence of up to one third, depending on how early the pleas is offered. Some crimes are excluded, such as supply of Class A ("hard") drugs, third-strike burglary, passport/ID offences (and others)
http://www.cps.gov.uk/london/assets/uploads/files/LondonEGPprotocolMay2013.pdf
@contrex,
contrex wrote:mercey, leninency,. another chance etc.
I'll have to throw myself on the mercy of the spelling court there (excuse: hasty typing!)
@contrex,
I pardon you. lol. Just kidding.
Thank you so much for the explanation. It helped a lot.
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