Definition
A peremptory paper is a scheduling document used in English common law courts — particularly the courts of common pleas and exchequer — listing cases that had been carried over from a prior term, either at the parties' request (an enlargement) or because court business did not permit them to be heard. The distinguishing feature was that the day assigned to each matter on the peremptory paper was fixed and final: parties could not seek further delay as a matter of course. The paper gave formal notice that the next opportunity would be treated as a last opportunity.
In a secondary sense, Bouvier extends the term to describe any court paper containing a comprehensive list of pending motions, though this broader usage is less common in the historical record.
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Common Confusion
The word "peremptory" appears in several distinct legal contexts — most prominently the peremptory challenge in jury selection — and researchers encountering the term for the first time may assume a connection to those contexts. There is none. Peremptory paper belongs entirely to the realm of English court administration and docket management. Its "peremptory" quality refers to the fixed, non-extendable nature of the rescheduled hearing date, not to a party's absolute right to reject or exclude. The term should not be confused with "peremptory writ," "peremptory mandamus," or "peremptory plea," each of which carries independent legal meaning.
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Why It Matters in Research
This is a historical term of English practice, essentially obsolete in any modern jurisdiction. Researchers will encounter it primarily in three contexts:
**Reading older English procedural materials.** Pre-nineteenth-century English legal records, treatises on common law practice, and reports from the courts of common pleas and exchequer may reference the peremptory paper as a routine scheduling mechanism. Understanding that it signified a non-negotiable reset date — not a new filing or substantive motion — is essential to correctly interpreting the procedural posture of a case at the time.
**Tracing the concept of enlargement.** The practice of "enlarging" a cause (extending it to a future term) was a formal procedural act with specific consequences. When a matter was placed on the peremptory paper after enlargement, the parties had exhausted their discretionary delays. Researchers studying the evolution of continuance practice, docket control, or court administration will find the peremptory paper sits at a meaningful junction in that history.
**Avoiding anachronistic readings.** The term carries the root "peremptory," which modern legal readers instinctively associate with finality in the sense of absolute right or unilateral power (as in the jury challenge context). In the peremptory paper context, the finality is temporal and administrative — a date certain — not a grant of unilateral authority to any party. Misreading the term in either direction can distort understanding of the procedural record.
The term has no practical application in contemporary American practice. State and federal courts manage dockets through scheduling orders, case management conferences, and local rules that serve the same underlying function but operate under entirely different procedural frameworks.
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Historical Dictionary Support
The three source dictionaries converge closely on the core definition, with Rapalje & Lawrence providing the most precise articulation: the peremptory paper listed causes enlarged by party request or held over due to court congestion, and the rescheduled date was itself peremptory — fixed, not subject to further routine extension.
Black's and Rapalje & Lawrence track each other nearly verbatim, suggesting a common historical source or mutual reliance on English procedural authorities. Bouvier adds the useful contextual detail about the courts of common pleas and exchequer specifically, and about the mechanism by which a rule moved in one term, drawn up to show cause in the next, would be placed on the peremptory paper. This is the most operationally informative of the three descriptions, though Bouvier's entry trails off mid-sentence in available form.
None of the three dictionaries elaborate on enforcement consequences — what actually happened if a party failed to appear or act on the peremptory day. That gap is consistent with the reference-manual nature of these works, but researchers needing that level of procedural detail will need to consult period-specific treatises on English common law practice, such as Tidd's Practice of the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas.
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Jurisdictional Note
The peremptory paper was a feature of English common law court practice and did not transplant directly into American procedure. American courts developed their own docket and continuance practices under distinct procedural rules. The term may appear in early American cases or treatises that drew heavily on English practice, but it does not describe any current procedural mechanism in any U.S. jurisdiction.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
The peremptory paper is unrelated to jury selection procedure. For the peremptory challenge — an entirely distinct legal concept sharing only the root word — see: The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia, "Jury Selection — Voir Dire, Peremptory Challenges, and Batson" (criminal_181).
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