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Tvurr.il calls Frefcription a Penalty imputed by the Laws upon Negligence ; and adds, that Poffeffors who have no other Title to plead but Frefcription, are only honeli Ufurpers.
In effect, however, the Law of Frefcription does not puni/h the Indolence of Proprietors ; but only interprets their Si- lencefor their Confent; prefuming that a Man who neglects to affert his Right for a long Series of Years, gives it up.
There are fome of the Lawyers who doubt whether! ime and unjuft Frefcription be any legitimate Means of acqui- ring ; others, more favourable, call it the Fatron of Man- tend ; as being a general Prefumption, under which the Law will have Men live in peace.
In the Common Law, Frefcription is ufually underflood of a Poffeflion for Time immemorial ; as when my An- ceftors, or his, from whom I have an Eftate, have enjoy'd and ufed it all the time whereof any Memory remains.
But in the Civil Law, and even in our Common Law, there are Frefcriptions of a much fhorter Date. Frefcription of forty Years excludes all .Actions whatever. Reform, Leg. Ecclef.
The Cuftom of 'Paris allows of a Frefiripion of ten Years, if the Parties be prefent, and twenty ifabfent, in favour of peaceable Poffeffors of an Inheritance, if they have any Title, however controverted ; and of thirty Years in favour of thofe who poffefs without anyTitleat all.
In Normandy, a Frefcription of forty Years peaceable Poffeflion is equivalent to a Title, to Immoveables ; and for Moveables and perfonal Actions, a Frefcription of thirty Years fuffices.
In Romifi Countries, Frefcription does not avail againft the Church, iflefs than a hundred Years. In France, Fre- fcription of twenty Years is admitted againft all Crimes, except Duelling, which was excluded by a Declaration of the Year icT 79 . In Matters of Adultery, five Years fuffice, i.e. provided there have been a difcontinuance of Profecu- tion all that time.
By our Statutes, a Judge or Clerk convicted of falfe en- tring Pleas, iSc. may be fined within two Years; but thofe elapfed, he prefiribes againft the Punifhment of the Statu te.
The Crime of Maintenance or Embracery, whereby Per- jury is committed by a Jury, muif be profecuted within fix days ; otherwife the Vaniesprefiribe. See Jury.
There is no Frefcribing againft a Man's Lord ; no Fre- fcription avails to take off a Servitude or Tenure : A Title is always required there.
The Author of the Hiftory of the Inquifition obferves, that no Time or frefcription avails in Matters of Herefy ; even Death itfelf does not fecure the fufpected from the Refearches of the Inquifition. See Inquisition.
Prescription, in Medicine, the A£i, or Art of afligning a proper and adequate Remedy to a Difeafe ; from an Ex- amination of the Symptoms thereof, and an Acquaintance with the Virtues and Effects of the Materia Medica. See Remedy and Disease.
The Methodus prefcribendi is the laft, finiftiing piece of Furniture of a Phyfician, and is the refult of all the reft 5 join'd with a ready, prefent Thought. See Medicine and Physician.
To Frefcribe with Judgment, Elegance, iSc. a moderate Acquaintance with Pharmacy, i. e. with the Forms and Preparations of Medicines, is required. See Pharmacy.
The Merits of a Bill or Frefcription confift in its being concife, pertinent, efficacious, and agreeable; in the beft and fuirableft Materials being pitch'd on ; thofe affembled in themoft judicious Proportions, made up in the beft and moil convenient Form, and apply'd in the jufteft Dofe ; a due regard being ftill had to the Non-naturals, Regimen, Inter- vals of Application, e?c. Sydenham excell'd in Trelcri-ption. See Dose, Diet, &c. '
Frefcription is either Officinal or Extemporaneous ; the former confifts in the ordering of the Medicines which the Apothecaries keep by 'em ready prepared according to their Difpenfatory. See Officinal and Dispensato'ry.
Extemporaneous is that which the Phyfician frames of himfelf, pro re nata, according to the Circumftances of the Patient, to be made up by the Apothecary according to the Phyfician's Bill. See Extemporaneous.
PRESENCE, Frtfentia, a Term of relation, ufed in oppofition to Jlbfence ; and fignifying the Exiftence of a Perfon in a certain Place ; or the State of a Perfon confider'd as co-exifting with another. See Co-existence.
In this fenfe an Obligation is faid to be pafs'd in Frefince of a Notary and Witneffes : At the breaking open of a gpal of a Miner or an abfent Perfon, the Frefince of a Sub- ftitute isneceffary.
The Schoolmen hold, that Frefence, in f peaking of Bo- dies, denotes not only a Co-exiftence, but a fort of Contact They make two kinds of Frefence ; the one virtual in which fenfe a Spirit, or Mind, is faid to he prefent to a Body when it acts thereon ; the other corporeal, which confifts in a phyfical Contact.
The Treafurers, fjc. of France have what they call a Right oj Frefence, a certain Sum due on their aftual A,L dance in their Offices ; to oblige 'em ,0 be the more affi" duous ,n their Junction. A Perfon abfent in the Service "f the Ring, or a Community, is reputed prefent.
' v }^ Roman Catbolicks believe the real Frefence „f Jcfus Chrifi ,n the Eucharift, both in Body and Soul S °'
1 RANSUUSTANTIATION. '
PRESENT, in Grammar, the firft Tenfe, or Inflexion of Verbs; exprefling the Time prefent, or that which now is. See Tense. "
'Tis a peculiar piece of Addrefs in Eloquence to mal, ufe of the/rc/rar, for a/.j/Z Tenfe, in order to exprefs I paft Adtion with the more force and warmth : Thus ; Th • Fleet is no fooner in full Sea, than the Heavens begin to lower the Winds „/ f , the Waves daft, againft each other Thunder rolls, and Lightning glares on all fides ; the Shi™ loft .then: Matt* and Rudders, and are driven impemoiX againtt the Rocks. r *
PRESENTATION, in the Canon Law, the Aft of a Patron, nominating and offering his Clerk to the Billion or Collator, to be inftituted in a Benefice of his Gift. Sea Patron, Collator, £?<;.
The Frefentation mutt be tender'd to the Bifljop within an hundred eighty-two days after the living is vacant elfe it lapfes to the Bilhop 5 and if the Bifhop do not collate in half a Year more, it lapfes to the Archbifhop ; and from him in a like time to the King, who may flay as lona as he pleales ; lor Nullum tempts occurrit Regi.
By fome Cuftoms, a Lay-Patron has only four Months time to make his Frefentation in ; and if he have prefented aPerion incapable, he may vary it, and make anew Fre- fentation withm the four Months. See Benefice
The Word isform'd from the antient Phrafe Frefentare adEccleftam, which originally fignify'd the Patron's fendint' or placing a Perfon in a Church ; and which itfelf is form'd from Reprefentare, which, Selden obferves, is ufed in the Council of the Lateran and elfewhere, for Frefentare See Parson.
Presentation, alfo, gives the Title to three Orders otiNuns. See Religious.
The firft, projected in 1S18, by a Maid nam'd Joan of Cambray. The Habit of the Nuns, according to the Vi- llon fhe pretended to have, was to be a grey Gown of na- tural Wool, &c. but this Project was never accomplished.
Inefecond was eftabliihed in France about the Year 1027 by Nich. Sangitin, Bi/hop of Senlis. It was ap- proved by Urban VUI. This Order never made any great progrels. ' &
The third was eftabliihed in i« 4; when Fred. Sorrimeo, being Apoftol.cal V.fitor in the Falteline, was intreated by fome devout Maids at Morbegnobourg rc allow 'em to live in Community ,n a retir'd place ; which he granted, and erected em into a Congregation, under the Title of Con- gregation of our Lady. They live under the Rule of St. Augufime.
Presentation of the Virgin, is a Feaft of the Romifi Church held on the 21ft of November, in memory of the Virgin s being prefented by her Parents in the Temple, to be there educated.
_ It is pretended, that there were young Women brought up in the Temple of Jerufa: 'em ; which fome endeavour to prove from the fecond Book of Maccabees, Sed fj Virginfi qua concluf£ cram, procurrebant ad Oniam ; which is the Sentiment of Eutochius on this Paffage. And Lyranus adds, that other more antient Authors obferve, that young Women were educated till Marriage, either in the Temple, or« leaf* in Buildings contiguous thereto.
Emanuel Comnenius, who began foreign in 114; makes mention of this Feaft in his Conftitution. Some even ima- gine it to have been eftablimed in the XI th Century among the Greeks ; and think they fee evident Proofs of it in fome Homilies of George of Nicomcdia, who lived in the time of Fhotms ; jo that it feems a Miftake in fome modern Cri- ticks to refer its Inftitution to Gregory XI. in 1-72.
Some take it to have beeii inftituted in memory of the Ceremony praBifcd among the Je~a for their new-born Females; corresponding to the Circumcifion on the eighth dayfor Males. SeeCiRcuMcisioN.
PRESENTEE, in the Canon Law, a Clerk prefented by a Patron to a Collator. See Presentation.
PRESENTMENT, in Law, a mere Denunciation of the Jurors themfelves, or fome other Officer, as a Juflice, Conftable Searcher, Surveyor, tfc. of an Offence, inqui- rable in the Court whereto it is prefented.
PRESENTS, Prjesentia, Free-gifts, or Gratuities ; efpecially thofe given by the Clergy, or the States ofa Realm, to a King. See Benevolence.
They are fo call'd becaufe given into the Hands of a Perfon prefent ; by which they are diilingui/hed from Munera, Gifts which are lent to the Party, or'dtlivered by the intervention of a third Perfon.
Thus
