Definition
Law terms are the fixed periods of the calendar year during which a court of law formally sits and conducts its business. Historically, courts did not operate continuously throughout the year but instead convened during designated sessions — called terms — and recessed between them. Legal business such as the filing of pleadings, the return of writs, and the rendering of judgments was timed and measured against these sitting periods.
The phrase "law terms" functions primarily as a collective or plural reference to the terms of court as an institutional system, rather than to any single session. In historical English and American practice, the terms of a court gave the calendar its legal structure: deadlines ran from term to term, jurisdiction could attach or lapse depending on whether a term was in session, and certain acts had legal effect only if performed within a term.
In modern usage, fixed terms of court have been largely replaced by continuous court calendars in most American jurisdictions, making the term primarily of historical and procedural significance. The phrase survives in some state court rules, in the names of specific sessions (e.g., "the October Term"), and in the jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court, which still formally operates on a named annual term.
Common Confusion
"Law terms" is occasionally misread as referring to legal vocabulary or legal terminology — that is, the specialized words and phrases that law uses. This is a false cognate. The phrase has a specific technical meaning (calendar periods of court sitting) entirely distinct from the general sense of "terms used in law." Researchers encountering "law terms" in historical sources should resist the vocabulary interpretation and ask instead whether the passage concerns scheduling, jurisdiction, or procedural timing.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in pre-twentieth-century primary sources will encounter frequent references to law terms as structural anchors for procedural events. A writ returnable "at the next term," a judgment entered "in term," or a motion made "out of term" all carry technical meaning that depends on understanding the term calendar of the specific court involved.
The term calendar varied significantly by jurisdiction and era. English practice divided the year into four terms — Hilary, Easter, Trinity, and Michaelmas — inherited from ecclesiastical and common-law tradition. American courts adopted modified versions of this structure, but colonial and early state courts often had idiosyncratic term schedules that do not map neatly onto English precedent. A researcher dating a procedural event in an early American record must identify the specific court's term calendar for that period, not assume correspondence with English terms.
Black's Law Dictionary addresses this concept under TERMS rather than LAW TERMS, which creates a cross-reference trap: searching for the phrase directly in Black's returns a redirect. The substantive content — including discussion of general, special, and adjourned terms — lives under the TERMS entry.
The disappearance of fixed terms from most modern American courts means that procedural rules written for a term-based system (e.g., rules governing the tolling of deadlines across term boundaries) have largely been superseded or reinterpreted. Historical case law construing such rules may be of limited direct applicability but remains essential for understanding the procedural posture of older decisions.
For Supreme Court research, the term structure remains live and operationally significant. Cases are filed, argued, and decided within named terms; the October Term calendar governs publication conventions, citation formats, and the timing of certiorari.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier defines law terms straightforwardly as periods during which courts sit "in banc or in full court," emphasizing the distinction between plenary sessions and other court activity. This definition correctly captures the institutional character of the term — it is not merely any day a court is open, but a formally designated sitting period with procedural consequences.
Black's defers entirely to the TERMS entry, which reflects the more modern lexicographic approach of treating "law terms" as an informal or redundant phrasing rather than an independent term of art. The substance in Black's is substantially richer than Bouvier's brief definition, covering the distinctions among general terms, special terms, and adjourned terms, as well as the procedural consequences of acts performed in term versus out of term.
Neither source addresses the transition from term-based to continuous-calendar court systems, which represents the most significant practical development affecting the term's relevance. Researchers should treat both dictionary definitions as describing historical practice rather than modern procedure.
Jurisdictional Note
The United States Supreme Court retains a formal term structure (the October Term) that is institutionally and practically significant. Most federal district courts and the majority of state courts have moved to continuous calendars, making the term concept procedurally obsolete in day-to-day practice. Some state appellate courts, particularly in the South and Northeast, retain named terms in their court rules, though these terms may no longer carry the same jurisdictional weight they historically did.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
employment_5: Employment Contracts — Formation, Terms, and Enforcement (The Law Mind Employment & Labor Law Encyclopedia) [for "terms" in the contractual sense, which researchers may encounter in proximity to this phrase]
contracts_210: International Contracts — INCOTERMS and International Trade Terms (The Law Mind Contracts & Commercial Law Encyclopedia) [for trade-specific usage of "terms" as contractual conditions]