SUIT vs. SUITE

The last half-way decent law dictionary is Black's Law Dictionary, Revised Fourth Edition. I use it and older dictionaries to look up the law.

Black's Law Dictionary, Fifth Edition and later, is more oriented toward policy. It is somewhat short regarding common law.

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In the Revised Fourth Edition, definitions run thus:

  • Court. International Law. The person and suite of the sovereign; ...
  • Suite. Those persons who by his authority follow or attend an ambassador or other public minister.
  • Suit. Old English Law. The witnesses or followers of the plaintiff.
    Modern Law. A generic term...the enforcement of a right, whether at law or in equity...
    sometimes restricted to the designation of a proceeding in equity to distingush
    such proceeding from an action at law.
  • Follow. To conform to, comply with, or be fixed or determined by...
  • File. A record of the court. A thread, string, or wire upon which writs and other exhibits in courts
    and offices are fastened or filed for the more safe-keeping and ready turning to the same.

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    In the Fifth Edition (1979), definitions run thus:
  • Court. The person and suit of the sovereign; ...
  • Suite. Those persons who by his authority follow or attend an ambassador or other public minister.
  • Suit. A generic term...the enforcement of a right, whether at law or in equity...
    sometimes restricted to the designation of a proceeding in equity to distingush
    such proceeding from an action at law.
    Old English Law. The witnesses or followers of the plaintiff.
  • Follow. To conform to, comply with, or be fixed or determined by... To seek to obtain; to accept as authority.
  • File. A record of the court.

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    In olden days the king's castle court consisted of the king and his suite of courtiers. Because only the priests could write, the court record was in the memories of the King and his suite of courtiers.

    Later, the courtiers and their memories morphed into sheets of paper placed in a bag which the clerk hung on a file in a closet.

    Sometime between the Fourth and Fifth Editions the spellings and meanings of the words were slightly modified.