prescription

[Fr., from Latin præscrip tionem, acc us. of præscriptio=a prescribing, from præscript us, pa. par. of præscribo to prescribe (q.v.); Sp. pre scrip cion; Ital. prescrizione.] I. Ordinary Language: 1. The act of prescribing, directing, or dictating as a rule of conduct; direction, prescript, precept. 2. A title or claim based on long use or custom. "He has no reverence for prescription."- Macaulay : Hist . Eng . , ch. ii. II. Technically : 1. Eng . Law : A claim or title to a thing by virtue of immemorial use or enjoyment; the right or title acquired by such use or by po e ion had during the time, and in the manner fixed by law, as a right of way, of common, or the like. Uninterrupted enjoyment or use for thirty, or in many cases for twenty, years gives a primâ facie title by prescription to the thing enjoyed, and enjoyment for sixty years, unle such enjoyment has continued under some consent or agreement, gives an absolute and indefeasible title. Prescription differs from custom, which is a local usage and not annexed to any person, whereas prescription is a personal usage. "In the first place nothing but incorporeal her edit a ments can be claimed by prescription Secondly, a prescription cannot be for a thing which cannot be raised by grant. For the law allows prescription only to supply the lo of a grant, and therefore every prescrip tion presupposes a grant to have existed."- Black stone : Comment., bk. ii., ch. 14. 2. Scots Law : Positive prescription is a claim or title to lands acquired by uninterrupted po e ion upon some written title for a period of twenty years. Negative prescription is the lo or omis sion of a right by neglecting to use it during the time limited by law. The term is also used for limitation in the recovery of money due by bond, . 3. Med .: A direction of remedies for a disease, and the manner of using them; a recipe; a written statement of the remedies or medicines to be taken by a patient.