Prescription

Prescription (Praescriptio), a title to incorporeal hereditaments acquired by long and continued possession. Before the Prescription Act 2 & 3 William IV., c. 7, 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 now the period of possession necessary to constitute a title by prescription is in many cases considerably shortened by the above Act.