diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/SystemReader.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/SystemReader.java
index 7cdf0ee1a28a6d34de7f5a61136a9e25670e3597..55cc878e02f00e0dfe39a756b5ba5146e50d364d 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/SystemReader.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/SystemReader.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 import java.text.DateFormat;
 import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
 import java.time.Instant;
+import java.time.LocalDateTime;
 import java.time.ZoneId;
 import java.time.ZoneOffset;
 import java.util.Locale;
@@ -538,6 +539,17 @@ public Instant now() {
 		return Instant.ofEpochMilli(getCurrentTime());
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Get "now" as civil time, in the System timezone
+	 *
+	 * @return the current system time
+	 *
+	 * @since 7.1
+	 */
+	public LocalDateTime civilNow() {
+		return LocalDateTime.ofInstant(now(), getTimeZoneId());
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Get clock instance preferred by this system.
 	 *