Word of the Week-Carouse

Those who know me will not be surprised to learn that, of all my classes, I am most excited about Criminal Law this semester. From the time I picked up A Study in Scarlet, I was hooked on crime and Sherlock Holmes was my hero. Over the years, I have read and watched anything Sherlock related from "The Great Mouse Detective" to the BBC's Sherlock.

You might wonder what any of that has to do with this week's word which is carouse. Per Dictionary.com, to carouse, is to engage in a drunken revel. This is not something that I have ever been inclined to do. However, a bit of me likely lived vicariously through the villains in those old stories. Also, for some reason, carouse makes me think of my grandfather and the stories he told of his time in the Army.

Anyway, while reading for Criminal Law, I have seen several fun words that will likely appear here in the future. The first, carouse, is mentioned in the case of People v. Beardsley heard by the Supreme Court of Michigan back in 1907. In this case, a married man "went upon a carouse" with a young woman. When the woman passed out after taking some pills, the man left her unattended and she died. As a side note, the young woman was accorded equal rights when the justices considered "[h]ow can the fact that in this case one of the parties was a woman change the principle of law applicable to it?" People v. Beardsley, 113 N.W. 1128, 1131 (Mich. 1907). The married man, our defendant, won the appeal of his manslaughter conviction and was set free. I will note that the Justices did call his conduct "morally reprehensible."