History of Nolo Contendere

The American justice system is based on English common law. Nolo contendere, too, comes from this English legal foundation. This plea of “no contest” essentially worked the same way then that it does now: a defendant has the right to accept punishment without admitting guilt. Who knows what benefits it offered to a defendant in medieval England, but those were harsher times and it may have been easier sometimes to take the punishment rather than argue with those in charge.

One of the most famous nolo contendere pleas was made by Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1973. He pled no contest to charges of falsifying tax returns. That plea allowed the courts to move the matter through quickly before it became a circus in the media, which was already in an uproar over Watergate.

A plea of nolo contendere is allowed in most states, but not all.

States/Abbreviations
AK	Alaska	LA	Louisiana	OH	Ohio
AL	Alabama	MA	Massachusetts	OK	Oklahoma
AR	Arkansas	MD	Maryland	OR	Oregon
AZ	Arizona	ME	Maine	PA	Pennsylvania
CA	California	MI	Michigan	RI	Rhode Island
CO	Colorado	MN	Minnesota	SC	South Carolina
CT	Connecticut	MO	Missouri	SD	South Dakota
DE	Delaware	MS	Mississippi	TN	Tennessee
FL	Florida	MT	Montana	TX	Texas
GA	Georgia	NC	North Carolina	UT	Utah
HI	Hawaii	ND	North Dakota	VT	Vermont
IA	Iowa	NE	Nebraska	VA	Virginia
ID	Idaho	NH	New Hampshire	WA	Washington State
IL	Illinois	NJ	New Jersey	WI	Wisconsin
IN	Indiana	NM	New Mexico	WV	West Virginia
KS	Kansas	NV	Nevada	WY	Wyoming
KY	Kentucky	NY	New York	DC	Washington DC