Agnes Longhurst b.1524 St Margaret, Ockley,

[BronwenS]

Yes I have some.  I have big garden with 60 plus roses and numerous other things.  Do those three 'terms' cover the whole year they don't appear to?

cold but sunny here, winter is coming.

[Bookbox]

Do those three 'terms' cover the whole year they don't appear to?

Not quite. They are not academic terms but Law Terms, covering fixed periods of the year when it was permissible to transact legal business, avoiding certain feast-days in the calendar.

There are four terms -- Michaelmas, Hilary, Easter and Trinity – and they could be of varying lengths. At this period Hilary term began one week after the Feast of St Hilary (20 January), and it could last for several weeks, but it always ended before Lent.

[BronwenS]

Thanks for clarifying that Bookbox.

nga miihi
Bronwen

[Vance Mead]

The four law terms lasted about 4 to 7 weeks each, for a total of about four months in the year. Michaelmas lasted the longest, Trinity and Hilary were the shortest. It is calculated in John Baker, Oxford History of the Laws of England, that the courts at Westminster were in session a total of 99 days in the year, about 19 weeks including Sundays and holidays.

The rest of the time the justices and serjeants at law (barristers) were either on circuit, presiding over jury trials in the countries. Or they were involved in teaching at the Inns of Court, such as Lincoln's Inn and Inner Temple. They might give lectures on points of law and preside over mock trials so that law students could argue cases before them.

[BronwenS]

Many thanks Vance.

Nga mihi
Bronwen
Aotearoa, nippy this morning but going to be a glorious sunny day