<P> The names `` John Doe '' and `` Richard Roe , '' along with `` John Roe '' or `` Doo '' were regularly invoked in English legal instruments to satisfy technical requirements governing standing and jurisdiction , beginning perhaps as early as the reign of England 's King Edward III ( 1327 -- 1377 ) . </P>
where does the saying john doe come from
English legal instruments to satisfy technical requirements governing standing and jurisdiction