Term

in contracts. This word is used in the civil law to denote the space of time granted to the debtor for discharging his obligation; there are express terms resulting from the positive stipulations of the agreement, as, where one undertakes to pay a certain sum on a certain day; and also terms which tacitly result from the nature of the things which are the object of the engagement, or from the place where the act is agreed to be done. For instance, if a builder engages to construct a house for me, I must allow a reasonable time for fulfilling his engagement. A term is either of right or of grace; when it makes part of the agreement and is expressly or tacitly included in it, it is of right; when it is not part of the agreement, it is of grace; as if it is not afterwards granted by the judge at the requisition of the debtor.

Poth. on Oblig. P. 2, c. 3, art. 3.