Terms, the periods during which the superior courts at Westminster were open.
The legal year consists of four terms: Michaelmas, Hilary, Easter, and Trinity (which see), the year beginning with Michaelmas Term.
The commencement and duration of the terms were fixed by 11 Geo. 4 & 1 Wm. 4, c. 70, s. 6, and 1 Wm. 4, c. 3, s. 3. By the first of these enactments Hilary Term began on the 11th and ended on the 31st of January; Easter Term began on the 15th of April and ended on the 8th of May; Trinity Term began on the 22nd of May and ended on the 12th of June; and Michaelmas Term began on the 2nd and ended on the 25th of November. Vacations in the Equity Courts were regulated also by Cons. Ord. V.
By the (English) Judicature Act, 1873, s. 26, now repealed, it was provided that the division of the legal year into terms should be abolished so far as relates to the administration of justice. But in all other cases in which, under the law previously existing, the terms into which the legal year is divided were used as a measure for determining the time at or within which any act was required to be done, the same continues to be referred to, for the same or the like purpose, unless and until provision is otherwise made by any lawful authority (see now, e.g., R.S.C. Appx. N. 201). The same s. provided that, 'subject to rules of Court,' the High Court and Court of Appeal may sit at any time. see R.S.C. Ord. LXIII., and SITTINGS.
Our university terms are different from the law terms; and the dining terms at the Inns of Court are the terms of the old law, and do not correspond with the sittings.
(To be under terms), conditions on which indulgence is granted by the Court, as to take short notice of trial, etc.
The expression 'terms' used in a document, would, according to Webster's New World Dictionary, mean 'conditions of a contract, agreement, sale, etc., that limit or define its scope or action involved', Ram Charan Das v. Girja Nandini Devi, AIR 1966 SC 323 (328): (1966) 3 SCR 841.