Page:Black's Law Dictionary (Second Edition).djvu/941

Rh

I Ashenfelter. 4 N. M. 93, 12 Pnc. 87 9; State v. Ardilbald, 5 N. D. 3'"9. 66 N. W. 234: Di g[ll"‘Elf'\'£l(Dl' Co. \\ hil 534 90

' e,. . . . .5; Attorney General v. Eau Claire. 37 IS. -100.

PRES. L Fr. Near. as near. See Cr PRES.

Cy pres, so near;

Lat. In civil and ecclesiastical law. An elder;a presbyter; a priest. God. 1, 3. 6, 20; Nov. 6.

That part of the Clilllth where divine oflfices ai'e performed: formerly applied to the choir or chancel, be- (lllinu it was the place appropriated to the bishop. priest, and other clergy. vlhile the imt_\~ uere confined to the body of the church. .l:u-ab.

PRESCRIBABLE. That to which 3 right may be acquired by prescription.

PRESCRIBE. To assert a right or title to the enjoyment of E1 thing, on the ground of having hitherto had the uninterrupted Iuul iminemoriai enjoyment or it.

To direct; define; mark out. In modern s‘li.tlli‘.cS relating to matters of an administrative nature, such as procedure, registration, etc, it is usual to indicate in general terms the nuture of the proceedings to be adopted, and to leave the details to be prescribed or regulated by rules or orders to be made for that purpose in pursuance of an authority contained in the act. Sweet. And see Mansiield v. People, 161 I11 611, 45 N. E. 976; lb( purte Lotlirop, 118 U. S. 113, 6 Sup. Ct. 954, 30 L. Ed. 108; Field v. Marye, 83 Va. N52. 3 S. E. 707.

PRESCRIPTION. A mode of acquiring title to incorporenl heredltanients grounded on the fact of irnmemorial or long-continued enjoyment. See Lucas v. Turnpike Cu.. 36 W. Va. 427, 15 S. E. 182; Gayetty v. Bethune, 14 Mass. 52, 7 Am. Dec. 188; Louisville & N 1:. Co. v. Hays, 11 Lea (Tenn.) 388. 47 .\In. Rep. 1291; Clarke v. Clarke. 133 Cal. 6, 66 Pac. 10: Alhamlira Addition Water ('0. v. Richardson. 72 Cal. 598, 14 Pac. 379; Stevens v. Dennett, 51 N. H. 329.

Title by prescription is the right which a possessor acquires to property by reason of the continuance of his possession for a period of time fixed by the laws. Code Ga 1882. 5 2678.

"Prescription" is the term usually applied to incorporeal hereditaments, while "adverse pa---ssion" is applied to lands. Hindley v. \leti-opoliton El. R. 00., 42 Misc. Rep. 58, 85 N. 'Y. Supp. 561.

in Louisiana. prescription is defined as a m:inner_ot acquiring the ownership of prop- erty, or discharging debts, by the effect of time, and under the conditions reg11l.'ited by law. Each of these prescriptions has its special and particular definition. The pre-

933

PRESENCE

scription by which the ownership of property is acquired, is a right by which a mere possessor acquires the ownership of a thing which he possesses by the continuance of his possession during the time fixed by law. The prescription by which debts are released. is a peremptory and perpetual bar to every species of action, real or personal, when the crerlitor has been silent for a certain Limo without urging his claim. Giv. Code La. arts. 345"i'—34:‘»9. In this sense of the term it is very nearly equivalent to what is else- where expressed by "limitation of actions." or rather, the "bar of the statute or hmit:itions."

"Prescription" and ‘custum" are frequently C|)Ii[0|.lIlI'lE(l in common parlance. arising perhaps from the [act that imnicmorinl usage was essential to both o[ them; but. strictly, they niaterially dififer from one another. in that custom is [1ro[icI'l_v a local impersonal usage. such as borough-I£n_t;iish, or postremogenitiire, which is annexed to a given estale, uhilc prescription _is simply personal, as that a certain man and his nucustors, or those whose estnte he enjoys. have iminemorinlly exercised at right of pasture—co1nmon in a certain parish. Again. prescription has its origin in a grant. evidenced by usag and is allowed on account of its loss. either notual or supposed, and therefore only those things can be prescribed for which could be raised by a grant previously to 8 & 9 Vict. c. 106, § 2; but this principle does not necessarily bold in the case of a custom. Wharton.

The difference between "prescription." "custom," and "us:1ge" is also thus suited: "Prescription hath respect to a certain person who. by intendmrnt, may have continuance forever. as, for instance. he and all they whose eslnte he hath in such a thing.—this is a prescription; whiie custom is local, and always applied to :1 certain place. rind is common to all; while usage dlficrs from both, for it may be either to persons or places." Jacob.

—Gox'porationn by prescription. In English law. Those wl.ich have existed beyond the memory of man, and therefore are looked upon in law to be well created. such as the city of London.—Pr-escription act. The statute 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 71. passed to limit the period of prescription in certain c-ises.—Pi-escrlption in 9. qne estate. A claim of prescription based on the iininemorinl enjoyment of the right cl lim- ed, by the claimant and those former owners "whnsc estate" he has succeeded to nnd holds. See Donnell v. Clark. 19 Me. 182.—'I‘ime of prescription. The length of timo not-cssnry to establish a right claimed by prescription or a title by prescription. Before the act of 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 71, the possession required to constitute a prescription must have existed "time out of mind" or "beyond the memory of man." that is. before the reign of Richard I.; but the time of prescription. in certain ci1se3. was much shortened by that act. 2 Steph. Comm 35

PRESENCE. The existence oi! a person in a particular place at a given time, partic- ularly with reference to some act done there and then. Besides actual presence, the law recognizes oonstrvurtive presence, which latter may he predicated of a person who. though not on the very spot, was near enough to be accounted present by the law, or who was actively cu-nperating with another who was actually present. See Mitchell v. Coin. 33 Grat. (Va.) 868.