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On my person

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on March 16, 2011 at 20:40

In Reply to: On my person posted by Doodadman on March 16, 2011 at 15:04:

: I am searching for the origin of the phrase "On my person". Thank you for your help.

It simply means "on my body"; i.e. you are actually carrying or wearing whatever it is. It has been used for centuries, particularly in English legal language. Obviously in a criminal case, to say for example that stolen goods were found "on the accused's person" was much stronger evidence of guilt than just saying that they were found in his house (where another person might have put them). (VSD)

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