The Serbonian Bog (Greek: Σιρβωνίδος λίμνη, romanized: Sirbōnidos limnē, Latin: Sirbonis Lacus, Arabic: مستنقع سربون, romanized: Mustanqaʿ Sirbūn) was an area of wetland in a lagoon lying between the eastern Nile Delta, the Isthmus of Suez, Mount Casius, and the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt, with Lake Sirbonis at its center.
According to Diodorus Siculus, most of the army of the King of Persia was lost there after his successful taking of Sidon in his attempt to restore Egypt to Persian rule.
[notes 2] Beginning with Milton, who used it in his description of Hell, the term Serbonian Bog is applied metaphorically in English to any situation in which one is entangled from which extrication is difficult.
"[5]Daniel Webster used it in his speech, "The union not a compact" on the force bill, in the United States Senate, February 16th, 1833 (in reply to John C. Calhoun) and Jackson's proclamation to South Carolina, in 1833: "He is like a strong man struggling in a morass-- every effort to extricate himself only sinks him deeper and deeper.
And I fear the resemblance may be carried still further; I feat that no friend can safely come to his relief, that no one can approach near enough to hold out a helping hand, without danger of going down himself also, into the bottomless depths of this Serbonian bog.
1914), Judge Smith wrote regarding judicial interpretations of the racial prerequisite in the early U.S. naturalization statute: "All of which foregoing discussion may seem wholly out of place in a reasoned legal opinion as to the construction of a statute, except as illustrating the Serbonian bog into which a court or judge will plunge that attempts to make the words 'white persons' conform to any racial classification."
The Cardozo statement was echoed by another Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor:"We recognise that any standard requiring Courts to distinguish causes that are "accidents" from causes that are "occurrences" requires drawing a line, and we realise that "reasonable [people] may differ widely as to the place where the line should fall"... We draw this line today only because the language of Article 17 and 18 requires it, and not because of any desire to plunge into the "Serbonian Bog" that accompanies attempts to distinguish between causes that are accidents and injuries that are accidents... Until Article 17 of the Warsaw Convention is changed by the signatories, it cannot be stretched to impose carrier liability for injuries that are not caused by accidents.