A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1986 (DOST Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1681
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0]
Quadriennium utile. [L. ‘the useful period of four years’, as in later Sc. legal use; also called anni utiles, Stair Inst. i vi §44.] The period from age 21 to 25 during which acts done during one's minority could be revoked. — 1681 Stair Inst. ii xii §31.
There is a quadriennial prescription against minors not pursuing, to reduce deeds done by them in their minority to their enorm lesion, from their age of twenty-one complete to their age of twenty-five complete; but these actions being intented within that quadriennium utile, did [etc.]
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Quadriennium Utile n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/quadriennium_utile>
