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Bob is eating in a café and is approached by a manager who says to him “if you don’t mind, I’m going to have to politely ask you to leave.”

Bob nods in acknowledgment at what was said, but, as he does mind, and it does not happen to tickle his fancy to leave at that moment in time, he duly notes the manager’s polite request, while declining to indulge it as the manager may have liked him to.

Has the manager officially revoked bob’s license to remain in the premises, such that he would be justified to start putting his hands onto Bob in order to enforce this “polite request”?

Are the scales of this question especially tipped towards yes if it took place in a place such as England where polite requests are often euphemisms for exercising unceremoniously fanged legal prerogatives, compared with Wales with largely similar laws but a comparatively much less euphemistic and more blunt cultural norm for communicating such imperatives to other people?

Alternatively, Alice gives Charles her phone number impulsively but then decides against having anything to do with him. But instead of ever asking him not to contact her, she makes polite excuses to him each time he sends her messages like being super busy that week, or being ill, hoping that Charles will take the hint that she does not wish to speak with him. But Charles persists, until Alice calls the police telling them that she is being persistently harassed by Charles. Has Charles done anything whatsoever wrong?

TylerDurden
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2 Answers2

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The meaning of a verbal statement is determined from the entire context by the finder of fact.

Are the scales of this question especially tipped towards yes if it took place in a place such as England where polite requests are often euphemisms for exercising unceremoniously fanged legal prerogatives, compared with Wales with largely similar laws but a comparatively much less euphemistic and more blunt cultural norm for communicating such imperatives to other people?

Yes.

We trust judges to be capable of decoding the meaning of everyday speech, in their community, including the meaning for different forms of politeness and euphemism.

It is a command rather than a request when the finder of fact can accurately conclude that the meaning of the statement to a third-person observer in its overall context is that the statement is a command was what was communicated.

The same words, spoken by a different person in a different context and manner might mean something different. The very same words, spoken in a highly deferential tone to Prince William's wife addressed with her formal title, in connection with a deep bow, at a venue that is a mile from Buckingham Palace, for example, might be reasonably construed to be a gentle request rather than a command.

ohwilleke
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In the US, it depends on who is asking. Although a polite request by a premise owner or agent would ordinarily be interpreted to be requirement (you have been told to leave, staying constitutes trespassing), a polite request by law enforcement to conduct a search remains a polite request and not a command, which then encompasses very many searches by police that would be deemed unreasonable without consent. On the other hand, a citizen's "polite request" for a lawyer ("I might need a lawyer") is not an official request for an lawyer (hence termination of interrogation), an unambiguous assertion is required. See Solan & Tiersma Speaking of crime for detailed analysis of the asymmetry in US case law regarding suggestions vs. commands, when legal force is a factor.

user6726
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