for a year and a day
Preserved but no longer current.
In law many acts are determined by this period of time — e.g. if a person wounded does not die within a year and a day, the offender is not guilty of murder; if an owner does not claim an estray within the same length of time, it belongs to the lord of the manor; a year and a day is given to prosecute appeals, etc.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “for a year and a day” mean?
In law many acts are determined by this period of time — e.g. if a person wounded does not die within a year and a day, the offender is not guilty of murder; if an owner does not claim an estray within the same length of time, it belongs to the lord of the manor; a year and a day is given to prosecute appeals, etc.
Is “for a year and a day” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.