Actually "cease and desist" has a good reason for existing.

When the Normans took over the Anglo Saxons territory, the new laws were written so that ideas from both languages and cultures were accommodated. The two words come from the two different roots - and each word means something slightly different, so that in order for there to be no misunderstanding, or 'technicalities', both meanings of "stop" were included.

It is not the only such apparently, not of originally so, redundant usage from this source. Just ask a legal eagle.