CHRISTMAS and the LAW

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 28, 26 November 1943, Page 3

CHRISTMAS and the LAW

" By a Barrister, The law covers many curious things, and there is scarcely a department ui' our lives which is not affected by it. Even the calendai and the date of Christmas which many people might consider were merely customary, are the subjects of au Act of Parliament. Since. I lie pass i n of the Calendar (new' stylo) Act in l."» 0, and the amending Act of 17-31 (both of which apply- l>y virtue of our legal system, to New Zealand), theie has !)e.en no drastic alteration of time by law. The matter is scarcely a legal one;, but its history is interest-, i 11 <4 and worth knowing. Before 1.1X'2 the year was regulated by the Julian Calendar throughout Christendom. The problem, ever since astronomers and mathematicians began to work on it. had been to reconcile the civil year to the solar year, the latter consisting ot the same number of days but about six hours extra. To meet this dillicillly the Julian Calendar put in fln extra day every fourth year between February 2! and 27>, in order to absorb the extra six hours and keep the calendar correct. Ten Days Out This system proved to be wrong (for reasons which would take too long to explain here), and by 1582 the spring equinox was 10 days out of place, and the error grew every year. In that year Pope C. regory XliJ. instituted the.. Gregorian Calendar, suppressing the oU'emiing 10 days, and ordained that the number of leap vears (i.e. years 'with the extia day included in February) should, be reduced to three in every lour hundred." This was (.lone by making each centennial year (e.g. 1!MH!) not H leap Year, as it would ordinarily be unless it was. a multiple of 100. Cnfortuna te'.y for the cause, ol uniioimity. Henry VIM. was on the throne of England, and was not oi the best of terms with the Papa power; so thai England maintained Ihc Julian Calendar despite tin change made by the. rest ol Chris •tendom. There was. a difference of 10 day. between the English and Continen lal calendars until the middle ot th IXtli century, a dilfercnee which sooi increased to 11 days. Into Conformity The Act of 1/7)0-1 brought Eng land into conlormity with the les

ol.' Kuropc by adopting the Gregorian Calendar. The 11. oxtra days were suppressed, the year was made to < x - I' • - ■- Oil x i. i.' vv.iiv. *.«..> ~ l ore, on March 2.1, and Ihe system of "intercalating" a day in every fourth year was altered, as we ha\e cxplained above. The extra day ;n leap year was mailt;. February 20, and once more England was in conformity with the rest of the world. Ail least days are now calculated hi the Gregorian Calendar, though the Ecclesiastical year begins, as before, on March 25. Thus Christmas Day and the date on which it iaiis are as much a matter ol law as the Moratorium Act or the law of Contracts. CHRISTMAS m the T&E^CHES From time, to time much is made in the press of the laet thai a number of British soldiers, shared a meal with the Germans in "No-man's Land" 011 Christmas Day. 1J)M; but it is not often mentioned that the ceremony was repeated in 191.). 1 was at the time, in command of a company in the oth "Welsh Kegimint (writes a correspondent ol the Manchester Guardian), and we were occupying some waterlogged breastworks in front of Vieille Chapel le. Christmas Day dawned grey and bicary, but we managed to got a little lire going and to brew some lea. One man pui his mess-tin ol the scalding beverage, on the parapet to cool, when a "Merry'" popped his head up in their trenches some ttO yards away and asked lor a drink ol tea. A e.orporal, fearlul 01. nothing promptly scrambled over the top. and '•Jerry" met him in the open. Tea was swapped for a cigar,, and other Germans camc out to be met by a number of Welshmen. Ilieie mus I have been at least a scoie oil combatants scattered over the tlnrty yards of "Xo-man s Fans! shaiin-, tea and cigars. An elegant German o[Vicer came out, to be met by a dishevelled Welsh subaltern, and conversation became general. iMiially, ■ when fraternisation reached the stage of swapping tunic, buttons, the ' German olficer blew a whistle, and ' each side withdrew.to its own trenches. There was no rilie lire for the ! rest of that. day. and in the evening these mutual miemies treated each : other to a selection of Christmas 1 carols. The Welshmen always said afterwards that it was the raucous singing of the Germans that nighi - that re-started, the war next mornt ing.