Definition
An old English legal term for the granting of a time extension — a putting off — for the payment of a debt. Attermining describes the act of allowing a debtor additional time within which to satisfy an obligation, effectively postponing the due date by agreement or legal process. The term appears in historical English law and is associated with the Statute of Westminster II (1285).
Why It Matters in Research
Attermining is archaic and will not appear in modern legal writing, statutes, or case law. Researchers encounter it almost exclusively in medieval and early modern English legal materials, glossaries of old law terms, and secondary literature treating the history of creditor-debtor relations or debt enforcement.
The practical modern equivalents — forbearance, extension of time, moratorium, and debt deferral — operate under entirely different legal frameworks, so attermining should not be treated as a functional ancestor of any specific modern doctrine without careful historical grounding. The term belongs to the procedural and contractual world of medieval debt law, where the mechanisms for granting time (and their legal consequences for sureties, pledges, and guarantors) could be highly technical.
Researchers using Law Mind corpus materials should note that the term appears consistently across all five source dictionaries but receives only minimal treatment in each. Black's (both editions) and Burrill each trace it to Cowell's Interpreter, an early seventeenth-century English law glossary, while Rapalje & Lawrence offer a slightly more functional paraphrase. Black's 2nd edition adds a reference to the Statute of Westminster II, chapter 4 — the only statutory anchor any source provides. Researchers tracing the term's legal context should consult that statute directly.
No source explains the procedural consequences of attermining: whether it required consent of all parties, how it affected co-debtors or sureties, or what form it took in practice. These gaps are typical of the brief treatment such archaic terms receive in the historical dictionaries and should be filled through primary legal history sources if the research requires substantive analysis.
Historical Dictionary Support
All five sources agree on the core meaning: a putting off, or the granting of additional time for debt payment. The definitions are functionally identical, suggesting the sources are drawing from a common lineage — almost certainly Cowell's Interpreter (1607), cited explicitly by Black's and Burrill. Bouvier and Rapalje & Lawrence paraphrase rather than cite, but do not diverge on substance.
The only additional detail across the corpus comes from Black's 2nd edition, which references the Statute of Westminster II (13 Edw. I, c. 4) and Blount's Law Dictionary alongside Cowell. This statutory reference is the most useful navigational clue any source provides, pointing researchers toward the context in which the term had legal force. No source explains what distinguished attermining as a legal act from an informal agreement to delay payment, and none addresses consequences for third parties to the original debt obligation.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Debt and Creditor Remedies in Historical English Law; Statute of Westminster II