Im`me*mo"ri*al (?), a. [Pref. im-
not + memorial: cf. F. immémorial.]
Extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition;
indefinitely ancient; as, existing from time immemorial.
"Immemorial elms." Tennyson. "Immemorial usage
or custom." Sir M. Hale.
Time immemorial (Eng. Law.), a time
antedating (legal) history, and beyond "legal memory" so called;
formerly an indefinite time, but in 1276 this time was fixed by
statute as the begining of the reign of Richard I. (1189). Proof of
unbroken possession or use of any right since that date made it
unnecessary to establish the original grant. In 1832 the plan of
dating legal memory from a fixed time was abandoned and the principle
substituted that rights which had been enjoyed for full twenty years
(or as against the crown thirty years) should not be liable to
impeachment merely by proving that they had not been enjoyed
before.