_Term_ is derived from _Terminus_, the heathen god of boundaries,
landmarks, and limits of time. In the early ages of Christianity the
whole year was one continued term for hearing and deciding causes; but
after the establishment of the Romish church, the daily dispensation of
justice was prohibited by canonical authority, that the festivals might
be kept holy.
Advent and Christmas occasioned the winter vacation; Lent and Easter the
spring; Pentecost the third; and hay-time and harvest, the long
vacation between Midsummer and Michaelmas.
Each term is denominated from the festival day immediately preceding its
commencement; hence we have the terms of St. Hilary, Easter, the Holy
Trinity, and St. Michael.
There are in each term stated days called _dies in banco_, (days in
bank,) that is, days of appearance in the court of common bench. They
are usually about a week from each other, and have reference to some
Romish festival. All original writs are returnable on these days, and
they are therefore called the return days.
The first return in every term is, properly speaking, the first day of
the term. For instance, the octave of St. Hilary, or the eighth day,
inclusive, after the saint’s feast, falls on the 20th of January,
because his feast is on the 13th of January. On the 20th, then, the
court sits to take _essoigns_, or excuses for non-appearance to the
writ; “but,” says Blackstone, “as our ancestors held it beneath the
condition of a freeman to appear or to do any thing at the precise time
appointed,” the person summoned has three days of grace beyond the day
named in the writ, and if he appear on the fourth day inclusive it is
sufficient. Therefore at the beginning of each term the court does not
sit for despatch of business till the fourth, or the appearance day,
which is in Hilary term, for instance, on the 23d of January. In Trinity
term it does not sit till the fifth day; because the fourth falls on the
great Roman catholic festival of _Corpus Christi_. The first
_appearance_ day therefore in each term is called the first day of the
term; and the court sits till the _quarto die post_, or appearance day
of the last return, or end of the term.
In each term there is one day whereon the courts do not transact
business; namely, on Candlemas day, in Hilary term; on Ascension day, in
Easter term; on Midsummer day, in Trinity term; and on All Saints’ day,
in Michaelmas term. These are termed _Grand_ days in the inns of court;
and _Gaudy_ days at the two universities; they are observed as _Collar_
days at the king’s court of St. James’s, for on these days, knights wear
the collars of their respective orders.
* * * * *
An old January journal contains a remarkable anecdote relative to the
decease of a M. Foscue, one of the farmers-general of the province of
Languedoc. He had amassed considerable wealth by means which rendered
him an object of universal detestation. One day he was ordered by the
government to raise a considerable sum: as an excuse for not complying
with the demand, he pleaded extreme poverty; and resolved on hiding his
treasure in such a manner as to escape detection. He dug a kind of a
cave in his wine-cellar, which he made so large and deep, that he used
to go down to it with a ladder; at the entrance of it was a door with a
spring lock on it, which on shutting would fasten of itself. He was
suddenly missed, and diligent search made after him; ponds were drawn,
and every suggestion adopted that could reasonably lead to his
discovery, dead or alive. In a short time after, his house was sold; and
the purchaser beginning to make some alterations, the workmen discovered
a door in the wine-cellar with a key in the lock. On going down they
found Foscue lying dead on the ground, with a candlestick near him, but
no candle in it. On searching farther, they found the vast wealth that
he had amassed. It is supposed, that, when he had entered his cave, the
door had by some accident shut after him; and thus being out of the call
of any person, he perished for want of food, in the midst of his
treasure.