Prescription
| n. | 1. | |
| 1. | The act of prescribing, directing, or dictating; direction; precept; also, that which is prescribed. | |
| 2. | (Med.) A direction of a remedy or of remedies for a disease, and the manner of using them; a medical recipe; also, a prescribed remedy. | |
| 3. | (Law) A prescribing for title; the claim of title to a thing by virtue of immemorial use and enjoyment; the right or title acquired by possession had during the time and in the manner fixed by law. |
| Noun | 1. |  prescription - directions prescribed beforehand; the action of prescribing authoritative rules or directions; "I tried to follow her prescription for success" |
| 2. |  prescription - a drug that is available only with written instructions from a doctor or dentist to a pharmacist; "he told the doctor that he had been taking his prescription regularly" | |
| 3. | prescription - written instructions for an optician on the lenses for a given person | |
| 4. | prescription - written instructions from a physician or dentist to a druggist concerning the form and dosage of a drug to be issued to a given patient | |
| Adj. | 1. | prescription - available only with a doctor's written prescription; "a prescription drug" Antonyms: nonprescription, over-the-counter - purchasable without a doctor's prescription; "nonprescription drugs"; "an over-the-counter cold remedy" nonprescription, over-the-counter - purchasable without a doctor's prescription; "nonprescription drugs"; "an over-the-counter cold remedy" |
PRESCRIPTION. The manner of acquiring property by a long, honest, and
uninterrupted possession or use during the time required by law. The
possession must have been possessio longa, continua, et pacifica, nec sit
ligitima interruptio, long, continued, peaceable, and without lawful
interruption. Domat, Loix Civ. liv. 3, t. 29, s. 1; Bract. 52, 222, 226; Co.
Litt. 113, b; Pour pouvoir prescire, says the Code Civil, 1. 3, t. 20, art.
22, 29, il faut une possession continue et non interrompue, paisible,
publique, et a titre de proprietaire. See Knapp's R. 79.
2. The law presumes a grant before the time of legal memory when the
party claiming by prescription, or those from whom he holds, have had
adverse or uninterrupted possession of the property or rights claimed by
prescription. This presumption may be a mere fiction, the commencement of
the user being tortious; no prescription can, however, be sustained, which
is not consistent with such a presumption.
3. Twenty years uninterrupted user of a way is prima facie evidence of
a prescriptive right. 1 Saund. 323, a; 10 East, 476; 2 Br. & Bing. 403;
Cowp. 215; 2 Wils. 53. The subject of prescription are the several kinds of
incorporeal rights. Vide, generally, 2 Chit. Bl. 35, n. 24; Amer. Jurist,
No. 37, p. 96; 17 Vin. Ab. 256; 7 com. Dig. 93; Rutherf. Inst. 63; Co. Litt.
113; 2 Conn. R. 584; 9 conn. R. 162; Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.
4. The Civil Code Louisiana, art. 3420, defines a prescription to be a
manner of acquiring property, or of discharging debts, by the effect of
time, and under the conditions regulated by law. For the law relating to
prescription in that state, see Code, art. 8420 to 3521. For the difference
between the meaning of the term prescription as understood by the common
law, and the same term in the civil law, see 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 246.
5. The prescription which has the effect to liberate a creditor, is a
mere bar which the debtor may oppose to the creditor, who has neglected to
exercise his rights, or procured them to be acknowledged during the time
prescribed by law. The debtor acquires this right without any act on his
part, it results entirely from the negligence of the creditor. The
prescription does not extinguish the debt, it merely places a bar in the
hands of the debtor, which he may use or not at his choice against the
creditor. The debtor may therefore abandon this defence, which has been
acquired by mere lapse of time, either by paying the debt, or acknowledging
it. If he pay it, he cannot recover back the money so paid, and if he
acknowledge it, he may be constrained to pay it. Poth. Intr. au titre xiv.
des Prescriptions, Bect. 2. Vide Bouv. Inst. Theo. pars prima, c. 1, art. 1,
Sec. 4, s. 3; Limitations.