For what it's worth, there is a good argument for limiting
the term "Doctor" to physicians (including, by the way, physicians
without a "doctorate" such as British physicians with only an
undergraduate medical degree), and referring to all non-physician
Ph.D.'s as Mr. or Professor or the like. This is, for example, the
traditional practice at Yale. In fact, there's a certain nice
reverse snobbery to this usage.
That said, all I can add is the following entirely facetious
observation: Here we are contemplating whether a particular
phenomenon (the use of the terms Dr. and Prof.) is (a) essentially
random, (b) the mechanical product of underlying variables such as
the self-description of the witnesses, the practice of the attorneys,
etc., (c) an unconscious tic, or (d) dare I say it, the result of the
judge's "intelligent design." Escher would be proud.
Perry
*******************************************************
Perry Dane
Professor of Law
Rutgers University
School of Law -- Camden
217 North Fifth Street
Camden, NJ 08102
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.camlaw.rutgers.edu/bio/925/
Work: (856) 225-6004
Fax: (856) 969-7924
Home: (610) 896-5702
*******************************************************
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