Part and parcel

Part and parcel is one of those largely meaningless phrases favoured by law books. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the expression dates back to the statute books of Henry VIII c. 1535. It means ‘an integral part of’ or ‘a vital part of a larger entity’. In the modern era, like the phrase by and large, it has become a virtually meaningless cliché. Even word processor programs like Microsoft Word will prompt one to replace ‘part and parcel’ with ‘part’ and replace ‘by and large’ with largely or mostly.