Reckoning in Various Cultures
In ancient times, calendars were counted in terms of the number of years of the reign of the current monarch. Reckoning long periods of times required a king list. The oldest such reckoning is preserved in the Sumerian king list.
In England, and later the United Kingdom, until 1963, each Act of Parliament was defined by its serial number within the session of parliament in which it was enacted, which in turn was denoted by the regnal year or years in which it fell. (See Regnal years of English monarchs.)
In Canada, acts of Parliament are dated by the session, the Parliament, the regnal year, and the calendar year. So, for example, a bill passed in the second session during the period spanning 2007–2008 would be dated thus: Second Session, Thirty-ninth Parliament, 56–57 Elizabeth II, 2007–2008
The Zoroastrian calendar also operated with regnal years following the reform of Ardashir I (3rd century).
While not strictly a regnal year, time in the United States of America can be derived from the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776). For example, the U.S. Constitution is dated as signed in "the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth," and Presidential proclamations will often be ended "IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this day of, in the year of our Lord, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ." 2012 is the 237th year of the Independence of the United States of America. Time is also sometimes reckoned in terms (and sessions, if necessary) of Congress; e.g. House of Representatives Bill 2 of the 112th Congress is dated "112th CONGRESS, 1st Session".
Read more about this topic: Regnal Year
Famous quotes containing the words reckoning and/or cultures:
“With earth’s first clay they did the last man knead,
There of the last harvest sowed the seed,
And what the first morning of creation wrote,
The last dawn of reckoning shall read.”
—Edward Fitzgerald (1809–1883)
“Both cultures encourage innovation and experimentation, but are likely to reject the innovator if his innovation is not accepted by audiences. High culture experiments that are rejected by audiences in the creator’s lifetime may, however, become classics in another era, whereas popular culture experiments are forgotten if not immediately successful. Even so, in both cultures innovation is rare, although in high culture it is celebrated and in popular culture it is taken for granted.”
—Herbert J. Gans (b. 1927)