sleep under the same bridge

Meaning

Verb

• To be formally, but not actually, equal under the law, due to circumstances being ignored.

Origin

• An allusion to “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under the bridge, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread”, a translation from the French "La majestueuse égalité des lois, qui interdit au riche comme au pauvre de coucher sous les ponts, de mendier dans les rues et de voler du pain", .