month

The term is not technical, and when the parties have not themselves given to it a definition, it must be construed in its ordinary and general sense, and there can be no doubt that in this sense calendar months are always understood.

A space of time variously computed, as it is applied to astronomical, civil or solar, or lunar months. The astronomical month contains one-twelfth part of the time employed by the sun in going through the zodiac. In law, when a month simply is mentioned, it is never understood to mean an astronomical month. The civil, solar or calendar month is that which agrees with the Gregorian calendar; and these months are known by the names of January, February, March, etc. They are composed of unequal portions of time. There are seven of thirty-one days each, four of thirty, and one of twenty-eight days. The lunar month consists of twenty-eight days. By the law of England, a month means ordinarily, in common contracts, as in leases, a lunar month. A contract, therefore, made for a lease of land for twelve months would mean a lease for forty-eight weeks only. 2 Bl. Comm. 141; 6 Coke, 62; 6 Term R. 224; 1 Maule & S. 111; 1 Bing. 307. A distinction has been made between "twelve months" and "a twelve-months." The latter has been held to mean a year. 6 Coke, 61. But in mercantile contracts in England, and for any purpose in the United States, a month simply signifies a calendar month. Chit. Bills, 406; 3 Brod. & B. 187; 1 Maule & S. 111; Story, Bills, § 143; Story, Partn. § 213; 2 Mass. 170; 4 Mass. 460; 6 Watts & S. (Pa.) 179; 1 Johns. Cas. (N. Y.) 99; 4 Wend. (N. Y.) 512; 15 Johns. (N. Y.) 358; 2 Cow. (N. Y.) 518, 605; 2 Dall. (Pa.) 302; 4 Dall. (Pa.) 143; 4 Mass. 461; 4 Bibb (Ky.) 105; which ends on the corresponding day in the month succeeding its beginning, less one day. 279 Ill. 401. In England, in the ecclesiastical law, months are computed by the calendar. 3 Burrows, 1455; 1 Maule & S. 111.

In old English law. A period of time, occurring in the middle of summer, during which it was unlawful to hunt deer In the forest, that being their fawning season. Probably so called because the deer were then defended trom pursuit or hunting. Manwood; Cowell.

At common law, twenty-eight days, unless otherwise expressed: a uniform period, falling into a quarterly division of weeks. 2 Astronomical month. One-twelfth of the period during which the sun passes through the zodiac. Calendar month.. A month known as January, February, March, etc. See Calendar, 1. Civil month. The same as solar month. Lunar month. Twenty-eight days, the period of one revolution by the moon. Solar month. One of the months in the Gregorian calendar, of twenty-eight to thirtyone days. Monthly. Once each calendar month; as, a monthly trip.' The common law construed " month " as a lunar month; the general commercial law, as a calendar month. The common-law courts in time adopted the latter rule in construing commercial instruments, while they adhered to the former rule in construing common-law papers.* The term " month " is not technical. When parties have not given it a definition, and there is no legislative provision on the subject, it will be construed in its ordinary sense of calendar month. ^ When parties contract for the performance of an act during the first half of a month of thirty-one days, the act is to be done by noon of the sixteenth day." A letting by parol for a sum certain per month, without anything said about a year, constitutes a lease from month to month. If the tenant holds over for more than a year he remains a tenant from month to month; and one month's notice to him to quit is bufificient.7 "3 Bl. Com. 256-57; 3 Steph. Com. 656-57; Brown v. Commonwealth, 5 Leigh, *516 (1834); Fiott v. Commonwealth, 12 Gratt. 576 (1855). ! 2 Bl. Com. 141. s Pacific Mail S. Co. u. United States, 18 Ct. a. 38 (1883). * See Redmond v. Glover, Dudley, 107 (Ga., 1832); 2 Whart. Contr. § 896, cases; Bish. Contr. § 1339, cases. » Sheets v. Selden, 2 Wall. 190 (1864). See also 2 Dall. 302; 4 id. 143; 3 Cranch, 0. C. 218; 21 Ala. 42; 31 Cal. 173; 5 Conn. 357; 2 Harr., Del., 548; 16 Ind. 275; 8 Me. 163; 17 Md. 260; 2 Mass. 170; 4 id. 460; 19 Pick. 532; 37 Miss. 667; 72 N. C. 146; 29 N. H. 385; 4 Wend. 612; 10 id. 393; 8 Cow. 260; 1 Johns. Cas. 99; 3 Johns. Ch. 74; 15 Johns. 119, 868; 28 N. Y. 444; 6 W. & S. 179; 6 S. & E. 539; 2 Vt. 138; 1 Wash. T. 618. » Grosvenori;. Magill, 37 111. 240 (1865). MOinJMENT.i 1. A memorial; a permanent landmark. Artificial momunent. A mark made by man; as, a post, or a clearing. Mural monument. A memorial made in a wall. Natural monument. Some natural object, like a spring, a stream, or a tree. In the determination of monuments, boundaries control courses and distances, because less liable to mistakes. But the rule ceases with the reason for it. If they are inconsistent with the calls for other monuments, and it is apparent that they were inadvertently inserted, they will be rejected as false and repugnant." See fiu-ther Boukdary; Hearsay, 3. 2. Something designed to perpetuate the memory of a person or event.^

Whether the word month, occurring in a written instrument, as a contract, deed, or statute, means a calendar or a lunar month, is a question of intention. Where the intent is not clear from the nature of the instrument or the context in which the word is found,.some positive rule of construction must be applied; and this rule has varied in different jurisdictions. It is not possible to reconcile the decisions; but, upon a general view of them, the clue to the conflict seems to be this: The common law preferred to construe month as meaning lunar month. The general commercial law, common to England and continental Europe, together with the ecclesiastical courts, preferred to understand it as calendar month; both, very probably, being under some influence from the church, by which the system of calendar months was imposed. The common-law courts soon came to yield to the rule of the mercantile law in construing commercial instruments, while they adhered to the common-law rule in common-law papers. The distinction was not always strictly pursued; our colonial courts, therefore, found the question embardecided some one way and some another; and at last, in many of the states, statutes have been passed prescribing a positive rule, under which decisions apparently conflicting with earlier ones in the same court have been necessarily rendered. See Redmond v. Glover, Dudl. 107. Thus now in England, by Stat. 33 Vict. ch. 21, passed in 1850, the word month, in an act of parliament, is declared to mean a calendar month. " Month," in a statute, should generally he construed to mean a calendar montli. Brudenell w. Vaux, 2 Dall. 302; Hunt v. Holden, 2 Mass. 170; Avery v. Pixley, 4 Id. 460; Alston v. Alston, Tredw. Const. COO; Williamson v. Farrow, 1 Bailey, 611; Commonwealth V. Charabre, 4 Dall. 143; Pyle V. Maulding, 7 /. J. Marsh. 202; Parsons v. Chamberlain, 4 Wend. 512; Kimball v Lamson, 2 Vt. 138; Commonwealth v. Shortridge, 3 J. J. Marsh. 638; Mitchell v. Woodson, 37 Miss. 567; Strong v. Birchard, 5 Conn. 367; Sprague v. Norway, 31 Cal, 173; Brewer v. Harris, 5 Gratt. 285. " Month," at common law, when used alone, means a lunar month. But it may be construed calendar month, when required by its context in a statute. What context will have this effect, in a penal law, see State v. Jacobs, 2 Harr. (Del.) 548. In commercial instruments, bills of exchange, promissory notes, &c., " month " means, presumably, a calendar, not a lunar, month. Leffingwell v. White, 1.Tohns. Cas. 99; Thomas o. Shoemaker, 6 Watts &• S. 179.. In matters other than commercial instruments, "month" was construed (prior to the statute prescribing a different rule) as meaning lunar month. Leffingwell v. White, 1 Johns. Cas. 99; Loring v. Hailing, 16 Johns. 119; Jackson v. Van Valkenburgh, 8 Cow. 260; Parsons o. Chamberlin, 4 Wend. 612; People v. Mavor, &c. of N. Y., 10 Id. 393; Stackhouse" v. Halsey, 3 Johns. Ch. 74. "Month," when used in contracts or deeds, must be construed, where the parties have not themselves given to it a definition, and there is no legislative provision on the subject, to mean calendar and not lunar months. The term is thus construed in a lease by the state of Indiana. Sheets v. Selden, 2 Wall. 177. " Months," in an obligation, should be construed to mean calendar months. Hardin v. Major, 4 Bibb, 104; Shapley u. Garey, 6 Serg. ^ R. 539. " Month," in the former New York statute relating to the notices to be given in cases of sales under powers in mortgages, means a lunar and not a calendar month. Loring V. Hailing, 15 Johns. 119. In Massachusetts, " month " is now, by statute, deemed to mean a calendar month. Such was the construction given to it by the decisions of the supreme court, with reference to its use in mercantile contracts and legal proceedings. Hunt v. Holden, 2 Mass. 170, note: Avery v. Pixley, 4 Id. 460. Now, by statute, in New York, " month," in any statute, contract, or other instrument, means calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. 1 Bev. Stat. 606, § i. The term month, as used in the Alabama act of 1843, regulating the proceedings on the settlement of insolvent estates, means a calendar month. Bartol v. Calvert, 21 Ala. 42. The months allowed by statute for the redemption of land sold under a decree of foreclosure, or on execution, are calendar, not limar, months. Gross v. Fowler, 21 Cal. 392. The term months, in the Delaware statute limiting indictments for " horse-racing, cock-iighting," &c., is to be construed lunar months. State v. Jacobs, 2 Harr. 548. When parties contract for the performance of an act during the first half of any month containing thirty-one days, they contract that it shall be performed by noon of the sixteenth day. Grosvenor v. MaglU, 37 III. 239. " Month," in section 8 of the Indiana general railroad law, means thirty days. Heaston V. Cincinnati, &c. E. E. Co., 16 Ind. 275. The months referred to in the act of 1790, ch. 101, concerning the publication of notices, &c., are calendar months. Glenn 17. Smith, 17 Md. 260. " Six months," in a bank charter, was held to mean calendar months, in Union Bank of Georgetown v. Forrest, 3 Crunch C. a. 218. A notice of thirty days, given during a calendar month which contains but thirty days, is a "month's notice." People v. Ulrich, 2 Abb. Pr. 28. An agreement to forbear the collection of money for " twelve months " means twelve calendar months. Satterwhite u. Burwell, 6 Jones L. 92. " One month," as used in N. C. Const, art. 4, § 15, relating to the term of imprisonment, defining jurisdiction, &c., is not synonymous with " thirty days," as used in the N. C. act of 1873, ch. 133, § 19, prescribing the penalty for one's not returning his tax-list. State v. Upchurch, 72 N. C. 146. " For the space of one month after the return-day," and " within one month from the return-day," are equivalent expressions. Gore V. Hedges, 7 T. B. Mon. 520. Where a month is referred to, in legal proceedings, it will be understood to be of the current year, unless, from the connection, it is apparent that another is intended. Tillson V. Bowley, 8 Me. 163; Kelley v. Gilman, 29 N. H. 385. authoritative decision. Moot, n., or, more frequently, moot court: an assembly held for the discussion of law questions or fictitious cases. Moot, adj., or mooted: proposed for discussion; also, undecided, doubtful.

is a space of time variously computed, as it is applied to astronomical, civil or solar, or lunar months. The astronomical month contains one-twelfth part of the time employed by the sun in going through the zodiac. In law, when a month simply is mentioned, it is never understood to mean an astronomical month. The civil or solar month is that which agrees with the Gregorian calendar, and these months are known by the names of January, February, March, &c. They are composed of unequal portions of time. There are seven of thirty-one days each, four of thirty, and one which is sometimes composed of twentyeight days, and, in leap years, of twenty-nine. The lunar month 1s composed of twenty-eight days only. When a law is passed or contract made, and the month is expressly stated to be solar or civil, which is expressed by the term calendar month, or when it is expressed to be a lunar month, no difficulty can arise; but when time is given for the performance of an act, and the word month simply is used, so that the intention of the parties cannot be ascertained; then the question arises, how shall the month be computed ? By the law of England a month means ordinarily, in common contracts, as, in leases, a lunar month; a contract, therefore, made for a lease of land for twelve months, would mean a lease for forty-eight weeks only. 2 Bl. Com. 141; 6 Co. R. 62; 6 T. R. 224. A distinction latter has been held to mean a year. 6 Co. R. 61. But in mercantile contracts, a month simply signifies a calendar month; a promissory note to pay money in twelve months, would therefore mean a promise to pay in one year, or twelve calendar months. Chit. on Bills, 406; 1 John. Cas. 99; 3B. & B. 187; 1M. & S. 111. In general, when a statute speaks of a month, without adding ‘“‘ calendar,” or other words showing a clear intention, it shall be intended. a lunar month. Com. Dig. Ann B. In all legal proceedings, as in commitments, pleadings, &c. a month means four weeks. 3 Burr. R. 1455; 1 Bl. Rep. 450; Dougl. R. 446, 463. In Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, and perhaps some other states, 1 Hill. Ab. 118, n., a month mentioned generally ina statute, has been construed to mean a calendar month. 2 Dall. R. 302; 4 Dall. R. 143; 4 Mass. R. 461. In England, in the ecclesiastical law, months are computed by the calendar. 3 Burr. R. 1455; 1M. & S. 111. In New York, it is enacted that whenever the term ‘ month” or ‘‘ months,” is or shall be used in any statute, act, deed, verbal or written contract, or any public or private instrument whatever, it shall be construed to mean a calendar, and not a lunar month; unless otherwise expressed. Rev. Stat. part 1, ch. 19, tit. 1, § 4.