PRESENT 



acquiesced in it ; and in all systems 

 of law it has been found necessary, 

 and to the public advantage, to 

 discountenance stale claims. 



In English law, by an Act of 

 1833, uninterrupted possession for 

 12 years gives a good prescriptive 

 title to land. A right of light 

 enjoyed for 20 years is indefeasible, 

 unless it can be shown that it was 

 enjoyed not as of right, but under 

 a written agreement or permission. 

 A right of common is prima facie 

 established by 30 years' enjoy- 

 ment ; and absolutely by 60 years' ; 

 again, in the absence of a written 

 agreement. An easement (e.g. a 

 right of way, or of water, or of 

 support) is prima facie conferred 

 by 20, and absolutely by 40, years' 

 uninterrupted use, and in the 

 absence of a written agreement. 



Corporations by prescription also 

 exist. A corporation could only be 

 created at common law by royal 

 charter ; but when a body is found 

 which has from time immemorial 

 acted as a corporation, though its 

 charter cannot be found, it is pre- 

 sumed to have been created a cor- 

 poration lawfully. The City of 

 London is an instance of such a 

 corporation by prescription. See 

 Borough ; Right of Way. 



Present. In grammar, one of 

 the tenses, or times, of the verb. 

 Strictly, it denotes an action or 

 event taking place at the time 

 when it is referred to : I am writ- 

 ing; it is raining. The present is 

 also used of habitual actions, e.g. 

 he goes to school every day ; of 

 past events (historical present), 

 e.g. he draws his sword ; of future 

 events, e.g. I start to-morrow. 



Presentation. Eccles. term for 

 the offering to a bishop, by the 

 patron or owner of a benefice or 

 living, of a clerk in holy orders as a 

 suitable incumbent of that living. 

 The English law governing pre- 

 sentation is set out in the Benefices 

 Act, 1898. See Advowson ; Bene- 

 fice ; Ecclesiastical Law. 



Presentment. In English law, 

 the presenting to the court by a 

 grand jury of some facts of which 

 they desire the court to take notice. 

 The usual instance is where a 

 grand jury present a criminal for 

 trial on an indictment, which 

 always begins " The jury on their 

 oath present A. B. that he did, on 

 the th day, etc., feloniously 

 steal, etc., etc." The system of 

 presentment also prevails in 

 America. It is not limited to 

 crime, e.g. a grand jury can present 

 for a public nuisance. See Jury. 



Presidency. Former adminis- 

 trative division of British India. 

 The name was originally given to 

 those units of the East India 

 Company's territory administered 



6320 



by the presidents of the company's 

 factories. The original three were 

 Bengal, Madras, and Bombay 

 (g.r.), and the last two retained the 

 title. All three are now among the 

 administrations of India. See India. 



Presidency Bank. Name given 

 to three Indian banks, one in each 

 of the three presidencies. The bank 

 of Bengal was founded in 1806, the 

 bank of Bombay in 1840, and the 

 bank of Madras in 1868. The bank 

 of Bombay was refounded in 1868. 

 The banks were regulated by an 

 Act of 1876, before which date the 

 Indian government held a large 

 part of their capital, and they had 

 the right of issuing notes. Later 

 this was not so, but they acted as 

 bankers to the government. In 

 1920 the banks were amalgamated 

 as Imperial Bank of India. 



President (Lat. praesidere, to 

 sit in front of). Word which de- 

 notes headship, with many applica- 

 tions. It is the recognized title of 

 the head of a republic. The head of 

 a college in a university is some- 

 times called the president ; in some 

 colleges at Cambridge the title is 

 applied to the second official. The 

 term is also used of the head of a 

 society, and in the U.S.A. of the 

 chairman of a company. The word 

 occurs in the title of many British 

 ministerial and legal officers, e.g. 

 lord president of the council, pre- 

 sident of the board of trade, pre- 

 sident of the probate, divorce and 

 admiralty division, and president 

 of the court of session. See Republic. 



President, H.M.S. Vessel of 

 the British navy. The first Presi- 

 dent was a vessel of 42 guns built 

 under the Commonwealth, and re- 

 named Bonaventure at the Restor- 

 ation in 1660. In 1887 a sloop of 

 1,140 tons was launched at Sheer- 

 ness and named President. With 

 her engines removed, she was 

 stationed between Blackfriars 

 Bridge and the Temple Stairs, and 

 served as a stationary drillship for 

 the London division of the Royal 

 Naval Volunteer Reserve until 



H.M.S. President. Drillship of the R.N.V.R., formerly 



anchored in the Thames between Blackfriars Bridge 



and Temple Stairs 



PRESS BUREAU 



1922. In that year a larger training 

 ship, the Saxifrage, a sloop built 

 during the Great War, and renamed 

 the President, took its place. The 

 great majority of naval officers 

 serving at the Admiralty, or under 

 the direct orders of Admiralty 

 departments, are borne on the 

 books of the President for purposes 

 of pay and records. 



Press. Comprehensive term 

 for the output of the printing press. 

 It is especially applied to news- 

 papers and periodicals. See 

 Amalgamated Press; Censorship; 

 Freedom of the Press ; Journalism ; 

 Newspaper. 



Press Association, LTD., THE. 

 Organization of British provincial 

 newspaper proprietors. Founded 

 in 1868, on cooperative principles, 

 to collect and distribute- news, it 

 began operations Feb. 5, 1870, co- 

 incidently with state control of 

 the telegraphs. A P. A. 'message 

 was the first press message to be 

 sent over the Government wires. 

 About a third of the Government 

 revenue from press messages is 

 paid by the association, which 

 serves nearly 150 provincial jour- 

 nals in addition to London news- 

 papers, while outside the metropo- 

 lis it has the monopoly of Reuter's 

 foreign service. Its managers have 

 been John Lovell (1868-80); Sir 

 Edmund Robbins, who was 

 knighted in 1917, when he retired 

 after 47 years' service ; and H. C. 

 Robbins. Richard Whiteing was 

 one of the original sub-editors. It 

 purchased and absorbed in 1919 

 the London News Agency, 



Press Bureau. British Govern- 

 ment department. It was founded 

 Aug. 7, 1914, on the outbreak of 

 the Great War, to issue official 

 information to the newspapers, 

 and to censor matter submitted to 

 it for publication by the press. Its 

 chief purpose, under the Defence 

 of the Realm Act, was to prevent 

 the dissemination of false news, of 

 news likely to be of value to the 

 enemy, and of views calculated to 

 ... ' . . , aid enemy objects 

 during the Great 

 War. Its opera- 

 i tions were sub- 

 jected to severe 

 criticism in press 

 and Parliament, 

 but friction 

 lessened with the 

 improvement of 

 its personnel and 

 organization. 



The first institu- 

 tion of its kind in 

 Great Britain, it 

 consisted origin- 

 ally of a director 

 (F. E. Smith, later 

 Lord Birkenhead ), 



