Definition
In old English law, a week; a period of seven days (literally "seven nights," equivalent to the Old English "sennight"). The term appears in medieval legal texts to measure time intervals relevant to procedural deadlines, service obligations, and the computation of legal periods. It carried the same practical meaning as the modern week but was expressed in Latin for use in formal pleading, writs, and treatises written in the scholastic legal tradition.
The term also appears in a secondary sense in civil law contexts, where it has been used to denote seven-twelfths — a fractional unit derived from the Roman as (a standard unit of measurement divided into twelve parts called unciae). In this sense, septimana refers not to time but to a proportional share, specifically seven of the twelve parts of a whole.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter septimana almost exclusively in medieval English legal records, Latin treatises, and civil law commentaries. Two distinct meanings — one temporal, one fractional — can appear in proximity, and context determines which applies. The temporal meaning (week) dominates English sources; the fractional meaning (seven-twelfths) arises in civil law and property division contexts.
When reading Fleta or similar medieval treatises, septimana signals a time-computation rule. Procedural periods measured in weeks matter for understanding when duties arose, when defaults occurred, or when a right could be exercised or lost. Modern researchers consulting digitized versions of Latin legal manuscripts should not assume the modern calendar week maps perfectly onto the medieval usage — the reckoning of days (inclusive vs. exclusive) varied by context and jurisdiction.
The fractional usage connects to the broader Roman law system of the as and its subdivisions. When Blackstone's notes or Taylor's Civil Law reference septimana in this fractional sense, the researcher is in the territory of inheritance, legacy calculation, or property partition under civil law influence. Conflating the two meanings produces significant misreading.
Burrill's cross-references to Fleta (a late thirteenth-century English legal treatise), Blackstone's Commentaries, and Taylor's Elements of the Civil Law provide the primary anchors for this term. These sources are accessible within the Law Mind corpus and should be consulted together when septimana appears in an ambiguous context.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the only substantive treatment of this term in the Law Mind shelf sources. Burrill correctly identifies both the temporal and fractional senses, though his entry is compressed. His references to Fleta (lib. 1, c. 24, § 5; lib. 2, c. 35; lib. 5, c. 40, § 2) place the temporal usage firmly in the medieval English common law tradition. His citation to Taylor's Civil Law (p. 492) and Blackstone's Commentaries (2 Bl. Com. 462, note) ground the fractional usage in the civil law tradition and its reception into English commentary.
No other historical dictionary on the Law Mind shelf — including Black's or Bouvier's in their standard editions — provides a dedicated entry for septimana. This makes Burrill's treatment the definitive shelf source for the term, and researchers should note that its brevity reflects the term's narrow, archaic usage rather than any ambiguity in its meaning.
The cross-reference to "See As" in Burrill directs researchers toward the Roman unit of weight and value (the as, divided into twelve unciae), which is essential context for understanding the fractional meaning. Without that background, the seven-twelfths definition appears arbitrary.
Jurisdictional Note
The temporal meaning is specific to old English law and appears primarily in medieval common law sources. The fractional meaning derives from Roman civil law and appears in civil law jurisdictions and in English sources influenced by civil law learning. Neither usage survives in active modern legal practice; the term is encountered only in historical research.