Vermont Bar Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2 Vermont Bar Journal, Spring 2017, Volume 43, No. 1 | Page 18

Ruminations
sin in a deed are also bound by a 15-year
limit. 101
Tax liens are good for 15 years. 102
The grand list of land planted with fruit
trees remains consistent for 15 years and
cannot be changed as long as the trees
continue to grow. 103
Ninety Years
All Judges and Justices (not including
Justices of the Peace) shall be retired at the
age of 90 or at the end of the term in which
they turn 90. 104
Ninety-Nine Years
The original birth certificate of an adop-
tee is unsealed when 99 years have elapsed
after the date of birth. 105
Affordable housing units are subject to
housing subsidiary covenants preserving
their affordability for 99 years or longer. 106
Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine Years
Perpetual leases for purposes of active
conservation management have a term
that exceeds 999 years exclusive of renew-
als. 107
As Long As Water Runs and Grass Grows
The public shares dedicated to the
school, glebe (church), academy, universi-
ty, and, in the old Wentworth charters, the
SPG (Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts) were leased by the
proprietors of the towns, usually providing
a perpetual lease with a term as long as wa-
ter runs and grass grows. 108
Day is a Day
In 2015, the Supreme Court proposed
new rules for the Criminal and Civil Divi-
sions to make sense of the way deadlines
are set. Every deadline would become
measured in calendar days, the former 10-
day limit for some motions extended to 14,
among other changes. The change would
rationalize the process and give greater di-
rection to the parties. The proposal has yet
to be adopted.
Why?
There must be a logical reason for dead-
lines. The overriding principle is simply that
things need to be done in a timely manner,
so that the opportunity to act or appeal is
used or exhausted or the consequences of
not acting or appealing are established.
There are exceptions to the Draconian
harshness of a deadline for some things,
but not for others, such as statute of limita-
tions and appeals of most decisions at the
18
state or local levels. You can obtain permis-
sion to delay a deadline in the Civil Division
if you file before the day you must act or try
to obtain relief by claiming the ever-ambig-
uous “excusable neglect.” 109
We live and die by deadlines. The clock
ticks. The calendar flies by. No alarm will
sound if you meet it. If you miss it, whim-
per.
____________________
Paul S. Gillies, Esq., is a partner in the
Montpelier firm of Tarrant, Gillies & Rich-
ardson and is a regular contributor to the
Vermont Bar Journal. A collection of his
columns has been published under the ti-
tle of Uncommon Law, Ancient Roads, and
Other Ruminations on Vermont Legal His-
tory by the Vermont Historical Society.
____________________
Dinah Washington made the song famous,
but Maria Grever wrote it, in 1934. https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_a_Diff%27rence_a_
Day_Made
2
In re Mullestein, 148 Vt. 170, 173-174 (1989);
Warner v. Mower, 11 Vt. 385, 394 (1839).
3
Francis Lewis Wellman, The Art of Cross-ex-
amination: With the Cross-examinations of Im-
portant Witnesses in Some Celebrated Cases
(New York: The MacMillan Company, 1908), 28.
4
“An act defining the powers of Justices of
the Peace within this State,” March 3, 1787,
Laws of the State of Vermont Passed by the
Legislature in February and March 1787 (Wind-
sor, Vt.: George Hough and Alden Spooner,
1787), 84-87.
5
17 V.S.A. § 2572.
6
10 V.S.A. § 6241(b).
7
10 V.S.A. § 2645(a).
8
10 V.S.A. § 4826(b).
9
10 V.S.A. § 1295(c).
10
1 V.S.A. § 312(c)(2).
11
23 V.S.A. § 1219.
12
20 V.S.A. § 3413.
13
20 V.S.A. § 3384.
14
9 V.S.A. § 2482b.
15
10 V.S.A. § 560(a).
16
28 V.S.A. § 808b(d)(1)(B).
17
13 V.S.A. § 3504(c)(1).
18
18 V.S.A. § 1001.
19
7 V.S.A. § 1007(a).
20
13 V.S.A. § 1609(b).
21
17 V.S.A. § 2971(a)(3).
22
31 V.S.A. § 1110(a).
23
33 V.S.A. § 4913(c).
24
18 V.S.A. § 4808(b).
25
18 V.S.A. § 5206.
26
32 V.S.A. § 7775.
27
28 V.S.A. § 907(1).
28
24 V.S.A. § 5146.
29
13 V.S.A. § 3902.
30
Fish and Wildlife Board Rule 138 (hare and
rabbits).
31
23 V.S.A. § 3313.
32
18 V.S.A. § 5230(2)(C).
33
18 V.S.A. § 5207.
34
15 V.S.A. § 2-402(a).
35
30 V.S.A. § 7006.
36
31 V.S.A. § 1110(b).
37
23 V.S.A. § 3209.
38
5 V.S.A. § 476(a) & (b).
39
2 V.S.A. § 263.
40
23 V.S.A. §§ 1129 (motor vehicles), 3211
(snowmobiles), and 3511 (ATVs).
41
1 V.S.A. § 318(a)(2).
42
13 V.S.A. § 5407(a)(3)-(7).
43
V.R.C.P. 55(b)(4).
44
Vermont Constitution, Ch. II, Sec. 11.
1
THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • SPRING 2017
23 V.S.A. § 1746.
18 V.S.A. § 5228(2).
47
9 V.S.A. § 4001(7)(construction contracts); 10
V.S.A. § 4454(d)(1)(B)(hunting, fishing, or trap-
ping license suspensions); 23 V.S.A. § 1205(c)
(suspensions for drunk driving);
48
13 V.S.A. § 2592(a)(2).
49
28 V.S.A. § 1003.
50
6 V.S.A. § 3032(b).
51
Vermont Constitution, Ch. II, Sec. 11.
52
1 V.S.A. § 312(b)(2).
53
7 V.S.A. § 67(a).
54
24 V.S.A. § 4451(a)(1).
55
1 V.S.A. § 318(a)(1).
56
State v. Whitney, 196 Vt. 629, 631 (2014).
57
13 V.S.A. § 7403(e).
58
V.R.A.P. 4(a)(2).
59
V.R.A.P. 5(b)95)(A).
60
V.R.C.P. 59(b).
61
V.R.C.P. 59(a).
62
V.R.C.P. 6(e); V.R.C.P. 5(b)(2) or (3).
63
V.R.C.P. 78(b)(1).
64
15 V.S.A. § 1004(b).
65
V.R.A.P. 5(b)(5)(A).
66
32 V.S.A. §§ 4403, 4404.
67
V.R.C.P. 79(b)(1); V.R.C.P. 6(a).
68
V.R.Cr.P. 26(c) and (d); V.R.E. 404(b) and 609.
69
V.R.C.P. 74, 75; V.R.A.P. 4(a)(1).
70
V.R.A.P. 4(a)(2).
71
5 V.S.A. § 277(c)(1)(C)(i) and (ii).
72
V.R.C.P. 33(a).
73
V.R.C.P. 56(b).
74
24 V.S.A. § 4464(b)(1) (“The panel shall ad-
journ the hearing and issue a decision within 45
days after the adjournment of the hearing, and
failure of the panel to issue a decision within
this period shall be deemed approval and shall
be effective on the 46th day”).
75
13 V.S.A. § 7042.
76
24 V.S.A. § 4463(b).
77
9 V.S.A. § 1921(c).
78
12 V.S.A. §§ 513, 517, 558(a), 2497, 5404.
79
Vermont Constitution, Ch. II, Sec. 15.
80
Vermont Constitution, Ch. II, Secs. 46, 47,
48, and 49.
81
12 V.S.A. § 512.
82
12 V.S.A. § 518.
83
http://fela411.com/fela_faq
84
32 V.S.A. § 7488(a).
85
Vermont Constitution, Ch. II, S