TERS - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

TERSAuthored

The Law Mind • 593 words

Definition

In English ecclesiastical and civil court practice, "ters" is the plural of "ter," a term used to designate the registrars of the old Probate and Divorce Courts in England — specifically, the four registrars of the principal registry in London and the district registrars attached to local offices. These officials were responsible for the administrative and record-keeping functions of probate and divorce proceedings. Following judicial reorganization, their functions transferred to the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court.

The principal registry, located in London, served as the central office for probate business and was staffed by four registrars, each attending on a rotating basis. District registrars performed analogous functions in regional offices across England and Wales.

Why It Matters in Research

This term is a narrow institutional artifact of nineteenth-century English court reorganization. Researchers encountering "ters" in historical English legal materials — particularly in probate or divorce records, procedural manuals, or court guides predating the Judicature Acts — should recognize it as a reference to court registrars, not a generic administrative designation. The term is essentially obsolete in modern practice and does not appear in contemporary English procedural rules or court administration materials.

The key navigational trap: because "ters" appears without context it can look like a typographical fragment or abbreviation. In digitized historical sources, OCR errors may compound this, rendering "registrars" or related terms in garbled form. If "ters" appears mid-sentence in a historical probate or divorce document, verify whether it is a standalone institutional reference or a corrupted scan of a longer word.

Researchers working in the Law Mind corpus on English probate history, court reorganization under the Supreme Court of Judicature Acts (1873–1875), or the structure of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division will find this term relevant to understanding who administered those courts and how records were generated and maintained. The transfer of registrarial functions is part of the broader consolidation story of Victorian judicial reform.

Historical Dictionary Support

Rapalje & Lawrence is the sole historical dictionary source for this entry. Their definition is precise and contextually grounded, situating "ters" within the institutional framework of the pre-consolidation English court system. They correctly distinguish between the two categories — principal registry registrars and district registrars — and note the transfer of functions to the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court following the Judicature Acts reforms.

No other historical dictionaries in the standard shelf sources address this term, which reflects its narrow, procedural, and jurisdiction-specific character. Rapalje & Lawrence, with their Anglo-American comparative focus, were well-positioned to capture English court terminology that American practitioners might encounter when dealing with English estates or cross-border probate matters in the late nineteenth century.

What historical sources miss: the entry does not address what happened to the registrarial function after further twentieth-century reorganization, including the eventual dissolution of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division and the creation of the Family Division and Chancery Division under the Courts Act 1971. Researchers should not assume the institutional structure described by Rapalje & Lawrence survived intact into modern English practice.

Jurisdictional Note

This term is specific to English court administration. It has no direct counterpart in American federal or state court systems, where analogous functions are performed by clerks of court, probate judges, or registers of wills depending on the jurisdiction.

TERSmain

Rapalje & Lawrence • 1883

Probate and Divorce. The registrars of the old Probate and Divorce Courts, now transferred to the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court, are of two kinds-the four registrars of the principal registry, and the district registrars. The principal registry is in London, and forms the office for the transaction of probate business. It consists of four registrars, of whom one attends the court or judge when sitting, and takes down the decrees or orders pronounced; the others attend to the administrative business, i. e. the supervision of the clerks of seats (q. v.), the taxation of costs, &c. They also act as the registrars of the court when sitting in divorce matters. (Second Rep. Legal Dep. Comm. 78.) The district registries are situated at various places throughout the country; each has a district registrar. The business of these registries consists in granting probate and letters of administration in common form where the testator or intestate had a fixed place of abode within the district. Id. 82; Court of Probate Act, 1857, § 46. Seamen. A register of all persons who serve in ships subject to the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, is kept in the port of London, and is made up from the lists and papers transmitted to the registrar by the masters of ships in accordance with the act. Maud & P. Mer. Sh. 137; M. S. Act, 1854, 2271. Ships. Every British ship (with certain exceptions) must be registered either under the Registration or Registry Acts (from 12 Car. II. c. 18 to 12 and 13 Vict. c. 29), or under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854-1862. There are a certain number of ports in the United Kingdom and the British possessions and colonies, at which registries for the registration of ships are kept; in the United Kingdom the principal officer of customs at the port is the registrar. The port at which a ship is registered for the time being is called her "port of registry." All changes of ownership in a ship (e. g. by sale, mortgage, death, bankruptcy) are registered. Sm. Mere. Law 177 et seq.; Maude & P. Mer. Sh. 2 et seq. See BILL OF SALE, & 2; MANAGING OWNER, 22; MORTGAGE, & 17. Solicitors. The registrar of solicitors has for his duties to keep an alphabetical list of solicitors and to issue certificates for practice. The incorporated law society is the registrar. Solicitors Act, 1843, & 21; Act of of 1877, § 16. Voters. As to the registration of voters in parliamentary boroughs, see 2 Will. IV. c. 45; 6 and 7 Vict. c. 18; 28 and 29 Vict. c. 36;30 and 31 Vict. c. 102; 41 and 42 Vict. c. 26; 2 Steph. Com. 354, and REVISING BARRISTER.

TERsnoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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plural of TER

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