Michaelmas Sittings - Law Dictionary Search Results

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Michaelmas Sittings

Michaelmas Sittings of the Supreme Court commence on the 12th October, and terminate on the 21st of December. By Order in Council (The Long Vacation) (1935) Order, 1935, the sittings were ordered to commence on October 7th. The day of commencement is that which his appointed by Order in Council (see R.S.C. Ord. LXIII., r. 1)....

Sittings

Sittings. By the Judicature Act, 1873, s. 26, the division of the legal year into terms is abolished, and sittings are substituted for it. See now (English) R.S.C. 1883, Ord. LXIII.The sittings of the Court of Appeal and High Court of Justice in London and Middlesex are four in every year, viz., the Michaelmas sittings, the Hilary sittings, the Easter sittings, and the Trinity sittings. The Michaelmas sittings commence on the day appointed by Order in Council (Long Vacation Order, 1935, 12th October; Long Vacation Order, 1936, 12th October), and terminate on the 21st of December; the Hilary sittings commence on the 11th of January and terminate on the Wednesday before Easter; the Easter sittings commence on the Tuesday after Easter week and terminate on the Friday before Whit-Sunday; and the Trinity sittings commence on the Tuesday after Whitsun-week and terminate on the 31st of July (R.S.C. 1883, Ord. LXIII).It is also provided by the (English) Judicature Act, 1925, s. 52 (replacing t...

Kissing the book

Kissing the book, kissing the New Testament on taking an oath (see that title). This practice, which has of late years been much objected to on sanitary grounds, is peculiar to English Courts, and even in them has not been in use for much more than 150 years; the original practice having been for the witness only to place his hand on the New Testament in order to take the 'corporal oath' (see that title, and see Best on Evidence, 9th Edn., at p. 147).The practice of kissing the thumb, or some part of the Book instead of the Book itself, was emphatically condemned by the late Mr. Justice Byrne at the close of the Michaelmas sittings in 1901 (see Times for Dec. 23), who observed that there was no excuse whatever for a witness refraining from kissing the Book, when by taking advantage of the Oaths Act to swear by uplifted hand he could get rid of the obligation to swear in the ordinary form. The practice of kissing the thumb only, though followed by many to escape infection, is perhaps fo...

Winter circuit

Winter circuit, originally an occasional circuit appointed for the trial of prisoners, and in some cases of civil causes, between Michaelmas and Hilary Sittings. See Winter Assize Act, 1876, and ASSIZE. But of late years the circuit held in spring has been termed the 'Winter Circuit.'...

Terms

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 ...

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