John Doe
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
A name given in legal proceedings to a party whose true name is unknown. It was the name which was usually given to the fictitious lessee of the plaintiff in the mixed action of ejectment. He was sometimes called "Goodtitle," or "Jackson." So the Romans had their fictitious personages in law proceedings, as Titius, Seius.