Definition
A period of time between two events or stages in a proceeding; a gap or interval during which something temporary or provisional applies. In legal usage, "interim" most commonly functions as an adjective modifying orders, appointments, relief, or other legal acts to signal that they are temporary and in force only until a permanent or final determination is made.
As a standalone noun, interim refers to the interval itself — the time between, for example, the commencement of an action and its final resolution, or between one officeholder's departure and another's confirmation.
As a modifier, interim carries a specific legal meaning: the thing modified is authorized, effective, or operative for the intervening period only and is subject to revision, continuation, or replacement upon final action.
Common examples include:
- Interim order: a court order issued during a pending proceeding, effective until superseded by a final order or dismissed by the court.
- Interim appointment: an appointment to office or position made to fill a vacancy temporarily, until a regular or permanent appointment is made.
- Interim relief: a remedy granted by a court before final adjudication to preserve the status quo or prevent irreparable harm.
- Interim committitur: a docket notation indicating that a prisoner is remanded to custody pending further proceedings.
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Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A transitional or temporary period between other events.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The meantime; time intervening; interval between events.
The common and legal meanings are closely related, but the legal use of interim shifts importantly from noun to modifier. In everyday speech, "interim" typically describes the period itself. In legal contexts, it more often describes the provisional character of the thing it modifies — an interim order is not just any order issued during an interval; it carries specific procedural implications about finality, appealability, and the court's continuing jurisdiction. A researcher who treats "interim" as merely meaning "temporary" may underestimate those procedural dimensions.
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Why It Matters in Research
Interim appears throughout legal sources in ways that are easy to overlook or misread.
First, the word functions in two grammatically distinct roles — noun and adjective — and historical sources use both without distinguishing them. Older docket entries like "interim committitur" (abbreviated "inter. com.") are procedural shorthands that will not be self-explanatory to modern researchers unfamiliar with committal practice.
Second, interim orders and final orders carry different procedural consequences. In appellate research, the distinction between an interim and a final order is jurisdictionally significant: many appellate courts lack jurisdiction over interim orders absent a specific statutory grant or certification. A researcher reviewing historical case files must determine whether an order labeled "interim" was appealable at the time, which requires attention to the procedural rules then in force.
Third, interim appointments appear heavily in administrative law, constitutional law, and government records. The scope of authority held by an interim appointee — especially whether they hold the same powers as a permanent appointee — has been the subject of recurring dispute and varies by context and era. Historical sources may assume limitations on interim power that are no longer settled law, or vice versa.
Fourth, in equity and injunction practice, "interim relief" shades into the vocabulary of temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions. These terms are not interchangeable, and historical courts used them with varying degrees of precision. In older chancery records, interim injunctions may refer to what modern practice would call a TRO, a preliminary injunction, or something in between. Cross-referencing the procedural context is essential.
Fifth, in the Law Mind corpus, "interim" will appear in Latin constructions (ad interim, interim committitur) that require parsing separately from English-language uses. Anderson's Dictionary of Law is the most useful shelf source for these Latin forms.
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Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries converge on the core Latin meaning — "in the meantime" or "meanwhile" — but differ in the depth of their legal elaboration.
Black's (1st ed.) is terse, noting primarily the ad interim assignee in bankruptcy as a practical example. This reflects the entry's orientation toward the practitioner needing a quick definition rather than a doctrinal explanation.
Anderson's Dictionary of Law offers the most useful historical coverage, providing both the Latin derivation and the practical procedural context for "interim committitur," including the note that "inter. com." was used as a docket abbreviation in remand proceedings. For researchers working with historical court records, this entry is the most actionable.
Black's (2nd ed.) entry for INTERIM, as returned in the source material, appears to be a misfiled or garbled entry — the text provided concerns the maxim "interest reipublicae" and not "interim" as a standalone term. Researchers relying on Black's 2nd ed. for this entry should be aware that the text as provided does not address the term directly.
None of the historical dictionary entries addresses the modern administrative law or appellate procedure dimensions of interim — particularly the jurisdictional consequences of interim versus final orders. For those questions, researchers must move beyond the shelf dictionaries to procedural treatises and relevant rules.
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Jurisdictional Note
The procedural consequences of an order being characterized as "interim" rather than "final" vary by jurisdiction and have been the subject of significant litigation, particularly in federal appellate practice. State courts differ on whether interim orders in family law, probate, or administrative proceedings are immediately appealable. Researchers should not assume uniformity.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Temporary and Provisional Orders
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Pendency and Abeyance in Legal Proceedings
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Preliminary Injunctions and Interim Relief
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