CASE IN POINT

[Q] From Chris Thalgott: Do you know the origin of the term case in point or case and point?

[A] It’s case in point, whose modern meaning is of some instance or example that illustrates what is being discussed. The phrase is now a fossil, because it was once possible to say in point by itself, meaning something appropriate, relevant or pertinent, but it survives only in phrases like this one.

It derives from the French à point, meaning the same as à propos, something relevant or to the point. The first example of the English form seems to be this from 1658: “Some play or other is in point”. It was beginning to look old fashioned by the time this next was published in 1888: “I recall another humble incident somewhat in point”. There’s also the related in point of, with reference to. You might once have said, as a writer did in 1681: “Sweden remains in point of Constitution and Property exactly as it did anciently”. Another example comes from Charles Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop of 1840: “His friend appeared to be rather ‘cranky’ in point of temper”.

We can still use in point of fact, another fossil form based on this same phrase. Here’s an example cited in the Oxford English Dictionary from 1769 that shows how the modern set phrase case in point may have come about: “Some case or cases, strictly in point, must be produced”.

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