You are right Ginny in one sense; the myth that grows itself.   The
7-year myth has primary origins in the Bible; Deuteronomy, 15, verses 1
& 2.   Many former British empire countries, including Canada and the
United States, established their early law from British common law,
which had biblical origins.  Our "statute of limitations" still exists
today; thank goodness. 

David Rintoul, CRM explained it very succinctly a few years ago:

<snip>
The tradition of a seven year limitation of actions does
originate in the Holy Bible and Gerry's citation is
accurate.  Here is another citation for those interested.

"(1)At the end of seven years thou shalt make a release.

(2) And this is the manner or the release:  Every creditor
that lendeth unto his neighbour shall release it;  he shall
not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it
is called the Lord's release."

Deuteronomy, Chapter 15, verses 1 and 2.

British common law evolved out of Biblical traditions, then
limitations were established by statute.  This led to the
Limitations Act, which set out the length of time after
which legal actions could not be brought.

Many limitation periods are still set at seven years but by
no means all of them.  Here in Canada, each province has a
Limitations Act and the limitation periods can range from
two years to permanent.  Also, many other statutes set out
their own limitation periods.

Thorough legislative research is essential to the
development of an effective records retention schedule.
--
<snip>

Best regards, Steve
Steven D. Whitaker, CRM
Records Systems Manager; City of Reno

>>> [log in to unmask] 10/2/2008 8:01 AM >>>
<as someone who was trained in historical methodology, the IMJ is a
secondary reference. The original 1999 study is the primary source. 
If
folks want to be accurate when giving reference to a number they
should
provide a way for folks to get to the primary source.>

And should do so by citing the source.  If one is quoting a secondary
source, the cite would indicate it is not the original source.  Not
only
can you land in legal hot water (as John A says - many of these large
studies are copyrighted) or under accusation of plagiarism, but you
may
find yourself with a very eggy face if the quoted numbers are too old
or
no longer relevant.   Sloppy quoting and not citing sources is how
myths
are born.  I imagine this is how the "all records must be kept seven
years" myth was started.  Someone, somewhere, sometime, decided a
seven
year value for certain financial (or other) records was accurate, and
other folks took the value and applied it to their records without
referencing the source used.  And the value continued to be quoted as
THE retention to apply.  And since someone, somewhere, sometime, said
seven years was how long to keep some records - it must be the same
for
all records.  And so on.........


Ginny Jones
(Virginia A. Jones, CRM, FAI)
Records Manager
Information Technology Division
Newport News Dept. of Public Utilities
Newport News, VA
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