5

Is it conventional to address attorneys general as "General", in the second person?

In 2012 New Hampshire's attorney general Michael Delaney met with Vermont's attorney general William Sorrell, and an account I read of the meeting said Delaney said "Good morning, General Sorrell." Is that a standard usage?

Michael Hardy
  • 2,506
  • 1
    IT's entirely possible that the record you read simply missed out a word. Misprints happen. – Andrew Leach Jan 31 '17 at 09:25
  • 1
    I now find that this article says he said "Greetings from New Hampshire, General Sorrell." This article and another I saw are wrong about the date of the Supreme Court ruling: it was 1933. The perambulation laws in both states were passed in 1935. http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/94495/required-by-law-vt-nh-attorneys-general-perambulat/ – Michael Hardy Jan 31 '17 at 17:59

2 Answers2

6

Inside the courtroom (and in some settings outside the courtroom) an attorney-general or solicitor-general is recognized with this rank in the record and is so addressed by the justices of the Supreme Court, and I would assume lower courts as well.

From SCOTUS Oral Arguments in CITIZENS UNITED v. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION (2009) (before Justice Kagan joined the Supreme Court):

APPEARANCES:
...
GEN. ELENA KAGAN, ESQ., Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; on behalf of the Appellee.
...
GENERAL KAGAN: Mr. Chief Justice and may it please the Court: ...

Justice Scalia and, afterward, Chief Justice Roberts, addressing the Solicitor General:

JUSTICE SCALIA: General Kagan, most -- most corporations are indistinguishable from the individual who owns them, the local hairdresser...
...
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Thank you, General.

In oral arguments for HAWAII v. OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS (2009):

APPEARANCES:

GEN. MARK J. BENNETT, ESQ., Attorney General, Honolulu, Haw.; on behalf of the Petitioners.
...
JUSTICE GINSBURG: But, General Bennett, if I understand correctly ...

If you listen to SCOTUS oral arguments, you will hear that this use of General is the convention and not an exception. In the few oral SCOTUS arguments, I have listened to I have always heard an Attorney- or Solicitor-General addressed as General (with or without their last name) and never as Mr. or Ms.

"The folks at Pfizer are very appreciate and excited to hear from the General." J. B. Kelly, a Dickstein partner, writing to a Missouri official about an appearance by the attorney general at an event sponsored by Pfizer. Eric Lipton; "Lobbyists, Bearing Gifts, Pursue Attorneys General", N.Y.T., Oct. 28, 2014

The post-modifying -General, in this case, is not military rank, but it is indeed rank. It is defined in the OED as

Having superior rank and comprehensive command or control.

In designations of civil, ecclesiastical, legal, and military office-holders.
adjutant-, attorney-, captain-, controller-, governor-, inquisitor-, lieutenant-, receiver-, solicitor-, vicar-general, etc.:

It dates at least to the year 1393 (vicar general). This is not the same meaning as the general in general counsel, which is general in the sense of not specific

general counsel n. Law (chiefly North American) (a) a lawyer or law firm retained by a client to represent the client generally, rather than for a specific transaction or litigation (b) the principal lawyer of a legal department, usually in a corporation or government body. [First citation 1840] OED

DjinTonic
  • 21,299
4

No. "General" is not standard usage.

What you are recounting is a couple of old New England lawyers who probably know each other quite well through politics being chummy and silly with each other.

The normal form of address for an attorney-general would be "Mr." [Surname] or "Ms." [Surname] or "The Honorable" [Full Name] or "Attorney-General" [Name or Surname].

ohwilleke
  • 2,334
  • The problem with the page you link is that it talks about writing a letter, but not about speaking to them in person. And what about situations like this: I once attended a meeting at which North Carolina's lieutenant governor Dennis Wicker was one of several people who spoke briefly. One of the other speakers said something like "I agree with Governor Wicker's comments." This is somewhat parallel to referring to a lieutenant colonel named Smith as "Colonel Smith." But it's not how you'd address him in a letter. The page you link to doesn't seem to cover this kind of situation. – Michael Hardy Jan 31 '17 at 17:38
  • The analysis on the linked page gets into it, however, with the history mostly flowing from a tongue in cheek way to address Janet Reno following Waco, and with the fact that "general" in the phrase "attorney general" is an adjective that modified attorney (hence attorneys general is the plural) rather than a direct title. The "general" in this title is not derivative of the senior military rank of the same name. The general in attorney general is used in the same sense that you use general in the title "general counsel". – ohwilleke Jan 31 '17 at 19:40
  • 1
    @ohwilleke I've added an etymology note to my answer to explain that the General in Attorney-General comes from the sense of general as rank, where as that in General Counsel comes from its meaning of non-specific. – DjinTonic Sep 20 '21 at 02:21
  • 1
    I concur with the explanation that this is inversion of adjective-noun word order because of the French derivation of these phrases. As for the venerable OED, 1066 comes before 1393. Battle royale is English, now (after Fortnite, anyhow). We're familiar with similar phrases like noblesse oblige and recognize them as borrowed from French. More research would be helpful. – Rick Colosimo Nov 01 '21 at 19:54