'Pro Per' - A pun or low shot in legal tradition?

[bornfree2]

Litigants or parties representing themselves in court without the assistance of an attorney are known as pro se litigants. “Pro se” is Latin for “in one's own behalf.”

Ive also seen it refered to as Pro Per. A term derived from the Latin "in propria persona," meaning "for one's self," used in some states to describe a person who handles his or her own case, without a lawyer.

I see a pun here - In Pro Per = Improper perhaps routed in old legal tradition?

[Scene: An Elizabethan pub near the local court house]

"Look there now Charles Esquire my boy!"
"here now comes that pauper to represent himself with out a lawyer. What a fool!"
"How improper of our decorum. Please do pass me the grey poupon"

[justbroke]

We have an In Pro Per (Pro Se) section on BKForum should you choose to post there. I just tell people that In Pro Per just means "in the proper person."

Interesting that you use the word "pauper" in the that skit. A litigant who can't afford to pay fees, is actually said to proceed "in forma pauperis" meaning, in the form of a pauper. Legal jargon also includes the word indigent. Some judge asked me if I wanted to proceed as an indigent and I said "excuse me?"