What it means
مرور زمان (morur-e zamân) literally means the passing of time, but in formal and legal Persian it functions as the equivalent of statute of limitations. Both components reached modern Persian via Arabic: مرور (morur) comes from the Arabic root م-ر-ر (m-r-r) meaning to pass by or to review; زمان (zamân) is a word that Arabic itself borrowed from Old Persian via Aramaic, and it re-entered Persian in its Arabic-register form. Together in legal usage, the phrase describes the principle that a legal claim or right expires if not exercised within a defined time period. In everyday speech the phrase can also mean simply the passage of time in a more literary or reflective sense.
How to use it
- با مرور زمان همه چیز فراموش میشه. (bâ morur-e zamân hame chiz farâmush mishe.) “With the passage of time, everything is forgotten.”
- مرور زمان این پرونده تموم شده. (morur-e zamân-e in parvande tamum shode.) “The statute of limitations on this case has expired.”
- وکیلم گفت مرور زمان شده. (vakilam goft morur-e zamân shode.) “My lawyer said the limitation period has passed.”
- قانون مرور زمان رو تعیین میکنه. (qânun morur-e zamân ro ta’yin mikone.) “The law determines the statute of limitations.”
Cultural note
In the Iranian legal system, مرور زمان rules differ significantly across criminal, civil, and commercial law, and some offenses under Iranian law, including certain hudud crimes, carry no limitation period at all. For civil claims and commercial disputes, the time limits are codified in the Civil Code and the Commercial Code. Iranian lawyers advising clients on older claims routinely check مرور زمان at the outset, since a missed deadline can extinguish an otherwise valid right entirely.