joke

Joke is a legal term denoting a common defense for violent criminal acts.

Joke arises from old English Common Law, when it was common to kill a man, shrug, and tell the Sheriff of Nottingham, "We were just joking and the clumsy prick fell onto that knife I left in his back."

The Sheriff was required by Common Law to flick the criminal's ear and tell him, "It's funny until someone loses an eye." In extreme cases, the Sheriff would require the criminal to go stand in the corner for fifteen minutes, after which he would chide the criminal, "It's not so funny now, is it dumbass?"

"Not fucking funny!"

~ Thomas Jefferson on jokes.

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