[ANSTHRLD] Repeal of the Modest Proposal?

tmcd at jump.net tmcd at jump.net
Mon Jun 3 09:57:16 PDT 2002


"Darin Herndon" <dherndon at bswintl.com> wrote:
> I think most of us are aware of restricted, presumptuous
> combinations.  Timothy quoted the rule example of Rhiannon and
> horses.  ... the name Romanov (sp?) and a double-headed eagle,

That has been loosened over time.  Bruce noted that we were seeing
fewer cases of people trying to get away with claims of being someone
famous, and ruled that one allusion was OK but that more was a
problem.  Rhiannon + a horse is now OK.  (Yes, the text of RfS XI.2 is
out-of-date and hasn't been fixed yet.)  A recentish precedent is from
Da'ud 2.2 prec.:

    Several commenters stated some concern about the use of the name
    Cerridwen with a charge which could be perceived as a moon.
    However, even had the crescent been a moon, the standard in effect
    is excessive allusion, not just allusion.  To paraphrase Baron
    Bruce when he instituted this more relaxed standard: One allusion
    to the name is not considered excessive, two allusions may be,
    three or more is probably right out. (Da'ud ibn Auda, LoAR January
    1995, p. 1)

For the Romanoff case, it was far more than just Romanoff + a
double-headed eagle.  (1/98 for the full ruling.)  The name "Yasha
Ivanovich Romanoff" was returned because of Ivan V Romanov and Ivan VI
Romanov.  The armory was actually returned for style
(unrecognizability), but it was noted that if the name had been
registered it would have been returned:

     The problem here is not any one charge, but the combination of
     everything. The name, the eagle, the cross and the egg push this
     submission over the edge.

> But, in my opinion, it is an acceptable risk.

I don't recall such presumption calls being done more than once per
year or so, but I haven't been paying close attention.

Daniel de Lincolia
--
Tim McDaniel is tmcd at jump.net; if that fail,
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