Identify a year from legal term dates
Discussion
Is it possible to identify a year from legal term dates? The year is in the 1940s, either 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948 or 1949.
Hilary Jan 11 – April 2
Easter April 15 – May 23
Trinity June 3 – Jul 31
Michaelmas Oct 13 – Dec 20
A much older friend left me his diaries and notebooks that I am now transcribing. He lived from 1913 to 2000 and the diaries run from 1925 to 1944 but the notebooks have few clues as to their year.
In case different courts have different dates, the term dates above are probably for a Probate Court.
Google and its immature AI brethren gave me this answer:
Yeah, thanks.
This is the notebook entry. It's possible I've misread one or two dates.
Any help would be gratefully received.
Hilary Jan 11 – April 2
Easter April 15 – May 23
Trinity June 3 – Jul 31
Michaelmas Oct 13 – Dec 20
A much older friend left me his diaries and notebooks that I am now transcribing. He lived from 1913 to 2000 and the diaries run from 1925 to 1944 but the notebooks have few clues as to their year.
In case different courts have different dates, the term dates above are probably for a Probate Court.
Google and its immature AI brethren gave me this answer:
Yeah, thanks.
This is the notebook entry. It's possible I've misread one or two dates.
Any help would be gratefully received.
Best guess: 1947.
Easter (Good Friday to Easter Monday) has to fall between the Hilary and Easter terms. Usually the Hilary term runs right up to the day before Maundy Thursday.
But some of those dates don’t look right: all of them should fall on a weekday, and two of them don’t in 1947. Possible transcription error?
It’s also an odd way of setting them out, as the legal year runs like an academic year: Oct to Jul. Not like a calendar year.
Easter (Good Friday to Easter Monday) has to fall between the Hilary and Easter terms. Usually the Hilary term runs right up to the day before Maundy Thursday.
But some of those dates don’t look right: all of them should fall on a weekday, and two of them don’t in 1947. Possible transcription error?
It’s also an odd way of setting them out, as the legal year runs like an academic year: Oct to Jul. Not like a calendar year.
BlackTails said:
Best guess: 1947.
Easter (Good Friday to Easter Monday) has to fall between the Hilary and Easter terms. Usually the Hilary term runs right up to the day before Maundy Thursday.
But some of those dates don’t look right: all of them should fall on a weekday, and two of them don’t in 1947. Possible transcription error?
It’s also an odd way of setting them out, as the legal year runs like an academic year: Oct to Jul. Not like a calendar year.
Thanks very much. He was a well educated man but not a lawyer. He probably set out the dates to suit a calendar year rather than the legal year. Of course, from what you've told me, that adds a complication; he's using parts of two legal years. Easter (Good Friday to Easter Monday) has to fall between the Hilary and Easter terms. Usually the Hilary term runs right up to the day before Maundy Thursday.
But some of those dates don’t look right: all of them should fall on a weekday, and two of them don’t in 1947. Possible transcription error?
It’s also an odd way of setting them out, as the legal year runs like an academic year: Oct to Jul. Not like a calendar year.
DickyC said:
Is it possible to identify a year from legal term dates? The year is in the 1940s, either 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948 or 1949.
Hilary Jan 11 – April 2
Easter April 15 – May 23
Trinity June 3 – Jul 31
Michaelmas Oct 13 – Dec 20
A much older friend left me his diaries and notebooks that I am now transcribing. He lived from 1913 to 2000 and the diaries run from 1925 to 1944 but the notebooks have few clues as to their year.
In case different courts have different dates, the term dates above are probably for a Probate Court.
Google and its immature AI brethren gave me this answer:
Yeah, thanks.
This is the notebook entry. It's possible I've misread one or two dates.
Any help would be gratefully received.
1945Hilary Jan 11 – April 2
Easter April 15 – May 23
Trinity June 3 – Jul 31
Michaelmas Oct 13 – Dec 20
A much older friend left me his diaries and notebooks that I am now transcribing. He lived from 1913 to 2000 and the diaries run from 1925 to 1944 but the notebooks have few clues as to their year.
In case different courts have different dates, the term dates above are probably for a Probate Court.
Google and its immature AI brethren gave me this answer:
Yeah, thanks.
This is the notebook entry. It's possible I've misread one or two dates.
Any help would be gratefully received.
Hilary term: January 11 to March 28
Easter term: April 10 to May 18
Trinity term: May 29 to July 31
Michaelmas term: October 1 to December 21
1946
Hilary Term: From January 11 to April 17
Easter Term: From May 7 to June 7
Trinity Term: From June 18 to July 31.
Michaelmas Term: From October 1 to December 21.
1947
Hilary Term: January 11th to Wednesday, April 2nd.
Easter Term: Tuesday, April 15th to Friday, May 23rd.
Trinity Term: Tuesday, June 10th to July 31st.
Michaelmas Term: October 1st to December 21st.
1948
Hilary Term: Monday, January 12 to Wednesday, March 24.
Easter Term: Tuesday, April 20 to Friday, May 14.
Trinity Term: Tuesday, May 25 to Saturday, July 31.
Michaelmas Term: Friday, October 1 to Monday, December 20.
1949
Hilary Term: January 11 to Wednesday, April 13, 1949.
Easter Term: Tuesday, April 26 to Friday, May 27, 1949
Trinity Term: Tuesday, June 7 to July 31, 1949.
Michaelmas Term: October 1 to December 21, 1949.
None of them quite fit. I wonder if, rather than him making several mistakes, he copied a much earlier legal calendar not realising they changed year to year.
According to a newspaper cutting reporting on the outcome of the case - with just 1949 left of the dateline - the President of the Probate Court hearing the case was Lord Merriman, who seems to be very high ranking.
The testator died in 1945 and the 1949 cutting suggests the case was heard in 1949. It was a disputed will and could, if I understand correctly, have been heard in the High Court.
Thanks for your help.
According to a newspaper cutting reporting on the outcome of the case - with just 1949 left of the dateline - the President of the Probate Court hearing the case was Lord Merriman, who seems to be very high ranking.
The testator died in 1945 and the 1949 cutting suggests the case was heard in 1949. It was a disputed will and could, if I understand correctly, have been heard in the High Court.
Thanks for your help.
I think immediately after the war Saturdays were included. There was a lot of sorting out to do.
Thanks. This is all good stuff.
It has occurred to me, though, that while I'm trying to give a year to each notebook, he may have revisited entries to add information at a later date which he understands, but which throws the research out of kilter. It's frustrating having so much while he kept up his diary and so little before and after.
He's not Dr Johnson and I'm definitely not James Boswell, but it is interesting.
Thanks. This is all good stuff.
It has occurred to me, though, that while I'm trying to give a year to each notebook, he may have revisited entries to add information at a later date which he understands, but which throws the research out of kilter. It's frustrating having so much while he kept up his diary and so little before and after.
He's not Dr Johnson and I'm definitely not James Boswell, but it is interesting.
CharGPT theory
Short answer: 1947 — specifically the UK legal year 1946–47.
Why that fits:
• By rule, Hilary runs 11 Jan to the Wednesday before Easter. In 1947, Easter Sunday was 6 Apr, so the Wednesday before was 2 Apr → matches “Jan 11 – Apr 2.”  
• Easter runs from the second Tuesday after Easter to the Friday before Whit Sunday/late-May bank holiday. Second Tuesday after 6 Apr 1947 is 15 Apr; Whit Sunday was 25 May and the Friday before was 23 May → “Apr 15 – May 23.”  
• Trinity begins the second Tuesday after the spring holiday (late-May bank holiday) and ends 31 Jul. In 1947 the bank holiday was Mon 26 May, so the second Tuesday was 10 Jun; end 31 Jul. Your note says “Jun 3”, which is one week early—likely a miscopy. 
• Michaelmas typically starts 1 Oct and ends ~21 Dec. Your “Oct 13 – Dec 20” is close but off at the start; “13” could be a misread “1st”. (Ending on Sat 20 Dec 1947 also aligns with practice when the 21st falls on a Sunday.) 
So the pattern of movable feasts and the official term-rules point squarely to 1947; the June 3 and Oct 13 entries are best explained as transcription slips. If you want, I can map your notebook dates against a 1947 wall calendar to show all weekdays line up.
Short answer: 1947 — specifically the UK legal year 1946–47.
Why that fits:
• By rule, Hilary runs 11 Jan to the Wednesday before Easter. In 1947, Easter Sunday was 6 Apr, so the Wednesday before was 2 Apr → matches “Jan 11 – Apr 2.”  
• Easter runs from the second Tuesday after Easter to the Friday before Whit Sunday/late-May bank holiday. Second Tuesday after 6 Apr 1947 is 15 Apr; Whit Sunday was 25 May and the Friday before was 23 May → “Apr 15 – May 23.”  
• Trinity begins the second Tuesday after the spring holiday (late-May bank holiday) and ends 31 Jul. In 1947 the bank holiday was Mon 26 May, so the second Tuesday was 10 Jun; end 31 Jul. Your note says “Jun 3”, which is one week early—likely a miscopy. 
• Michaelmas typically starts 1 Oct and ends ~21 Dec. Your “Oct 13 – Dec 20” is close but off at the start; “13” could be a misread “1st”. (Ending on Sat 20 Dec 1947 also aligns with practice when the 21st falls on a Sunday.) 
So the pattern of movable feasts and the official term-rules point squarely to 1947; the June 3 and Oct 13 entries are best explained as transcription slips. If you want, I can map your notebook dates against a 1947 wall calendar to show all weekdays line up.
No, you've done quite enough! Thank you. Thanks to all who participated. I'm going with 1947.
The gap between the testator's death in 1945 and the ruling by Lord Merriman in 1949 must have been excruciating for all those who eventually did, or didn't, benefit.
The estate was reckoned at £40,000 in 1945, which is of the order of £1,500,000 now, but it included several thousand blue chip shares with a healthy dividend.
Merriman ruled in favour of the plaintiff, saying a lost will of 1943, where she was principle beneficiary, should take precedent over a will written shortly before the testator's death from which she was largely excluded. The main beneficiary of the 1945 will couldn't afford representation and simply set the plaintiff, his stepmother, to proof. The lawyer who witnessed the 1945 will died before the case came to court.
In the absence of diaries, the notebooks give an insight to the family's deteriorating relationship. To know roughly when the observations were made is very helpful.
If I ever publish it as an incomplete biography, with a potential readership of possibly two
I'll credit all your efforts here. Thanks.
The gap between the testator's death in 1945 and the ruling by Lord Merriman in 1949 must have been excruciating for all those who eventually did, or didn't, benefit.
The estate was reckoned at £40,000 in 1945, which is of the order of £1,500,000 now, but it included several thousand blue chip shares with a healthy dividend.
Merriman ruled in favour of the plaintiff, saying a lost will of 1943, where she was principle beneficiary, should take precedent over a will written shortly before the testator's death from which she was largely excluded. The main beneficiary of the 1945 will couldn't afford representation and simply set the plaintiff, his stepmother, to proof. The lawyer who witnessed the 1945 will died before the case came to court.
In the absence of diaries, the notebooks give an insight to the family's deteriorating relationship. To know roughly when the observations were made is very helpful.
If I ever publish it as an incomplete biography, with a potential readership of possibly two
I'll credit all your efforts here. Thanks.surveyor said:
Trinity begins the second Tuesday after the spring holiday (late-May bank holiday) and ends 31 Jul. In 1947 the bank holiday was Mon 26 May, so the second Tuesday was 10 Jun; end 31 Jul. Your note says “Jun 3”, which is one week early—likely a miscopy..
My calculation above gave Trinity starting June 3rd (first Tuesday after Whit Sunday, which is 49 days after Easter).Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff