<Li> the abolition of the office, which must nonetheless be served out until the end of the official's term . </Li> <P> Lame duck officials tend to have less political power, as other elected officials are less inclined to cooperate with them . However, lame ducks are also in the peculiar position of not facing the consequences of their actions in a subsequent election, giving them greater freedom to issue unpopular decisions or appointments . Examples include last - minute midnight regulations issued by executive agencies of outgoing US presidential administrations and executive orders issued by outgoing presidents . Such actions date back to the Judiciary Act of 1801 ("Midnight Judges Act"), in which Federalist President John Adams and the outgoing 6th Congress amended the Judiciary Act to create more federal judge seats for Adams to appoint and the Senate to confirm before the Democratic - Republican Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated and the Democratic - Republican majority 7th Congress convened . In more recent history, US President Bill Clinton was widely criticized for issuing 140 pardons and other acts of executive clemency on his last day in office, including two former close colleagues, donors, fellow Democratic members, and his own half - brother . </P> <P> The phrase "lame duck" was coined in the eighteenth century at the London Stock Exchange, to refer to a stockbroker who defaulted on his debts . The first known mention of the term in writing was made by Horace Walpole, from a letter in 1761 to Sir Horace Mann: "Do you know what a Bull and a Bear and Lame Duck are?" In 1791 Mary Berry wrote of the Duchess of Devonshire's loss of £ 50,000 in stocks, "the conversation of the town" that her name was to be "posted up as a lame duck". In the literal sense, the term refers to a duck which is unable to keep up with its flock, making it a target for predators . </P> <P> It was transferred to politicians in the nineteenth century, the first recorded use is in the Congressional Globe (then the official record of the United States Congress) of January 14, 1863: "In no event...could (the Court of Claims) be justly obnoxious to the charge of being a receptacle of' lame ducks' or broken down politicians ." </P>

Where does the expression lame duck come from
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