Prescription is also a law adopted in Presbyterian churches. If a scandal is not noticed for five years after it happens, it cannot be revived, but is then said to be prescribed.
Presence means, in canonical law, the uninter- rupted personal residence of every regularly prebended ecclesiastic at the seat of his office ; a duty emphatically imposed on him by the laws of the Church. It means also the personal attendance at the common choral pray- er, to which the laws of the Church obligate all mem- bers of a monastic community, as well as the canons and choir-vicars of the cathedral and collegiate congre- gations.
Presence-money is the small daily payment in specie made by Roman Catholics to the canons for their presence in the choir at defunct cathedral or collegiate churches. After the dissolution of the communal life of those ecclesiastics, the bulk of the revenue of the chapters was divided into individual portions, to be distributed partly as daily stipends, called distribu- iiones quotidianre, or quotidiana stipendia, in opposition to the prebends, which went by the name of f met us grossi or annul. The purpose of this daily distribution was to induce the canons to a stricter obedience to the law of residence, and to more assiduous attendance to the public choir-prayers, as only those canons came in for their share who were either present in the choir or officiated during the service. Yet there were some grounds on which their absence could be excused with- out loss of their share. (These legal exceptions are for- mulated in the canonic regulations in De cler. mgr. iii, 6 ; De cler. non resid. iii, 3 ; Cone. Trid. sess. xxii, c. 3, and sess. xxiv, c. 8 fin. De ref.) The Council of Trent
PRESENCE, REAL
55S
PRESENTATION
directed that in those cathedral <>r collegiate congrega- tions where there existed no presence-money, or where it reached but an insignificant amount, a third of the whole revenue of the chapter should be set apart and such distributions (<7onc. Trid. Bess, x\i. <•. :;. /- The portions of the canons absent without
reasonable ex< use were to be divided among the mem- bers preseni pro ruin. <>r given to the fabric of the church, if ii stood in need of such help, or employed for any pious purpose the bishop mighl devise (sess. sxii, c. 3, De re/'.). Ii was not always the negligence of the canons, bul also the peculiar— and partly abusive — corn- pi.- ii ion .it i he chapters, which was the cause thai t h< ir members bo frequently dispensed with personal service in the choir, and were represented in it by simple vic- ars. The persona] obligation of the canons has been insisted upon by the most ancient canonic rules, by the Council of Trent, and by the last circumscription bulls for the reorganization of the German bishoprics. Spe- cial presence-money is no more in use ; tor as the dota- tion of the restored bishoprics and chapters is not found- ed on immovable property, as the prebends How. in the form of fixed salaries, out of the public treasure, the di- rection of the Council of Trent that a part of the rev- enue should he set apart and used for such distributions isnol acted upon. See Schmidt. Thesaurus jur. Eccles. iv,195sq.
Presence, Real. See Tuansi instantiation.
Present. See Gift.
Presentation, in ecclesiastical law. is. I, in the state-established churches, one of those forms of canonic
collation of the prebends by which the rights of the bishop are limited, inasmuch as he cannot himself nom- inate an occupant to the vacant office, bul must he con- tent with confirming the nominee of the patrorais /<</»- ficii. The right of presentation is therefore the right of the patron to designate to the bishop the successor elected by him of a deceased beneficiary, the I ishop being obliged to confirm the candidate if he be w irthy, caiiable, and proposed according to canonical rules. This right of presentation is the first and most important of all patronal rights. The patron, in the exercise of his right, is bound by tint general conditions of a canonical provision: he has to pro], use a capable and worthy per- son gratuitously, and within the legal limits of time.
If the patmnate be an ecclesiastical or a mixed one. the time is six months: if il be a worldly one. four months : yet there are departures from this rule. In Austria the patron must choose his nominee out of a list drawn up b\ the ordiuariate : if he be at home, within six months; il' he be abroad, within three mouths, from the day of the receipt of the list. In Prussia six months are allowed to the lay patron, as well as to the ecclesiastical patron. from i be day of the vacation of the office : or. if the ben- eficiary die abroad, from the day on which the news ol bis death is received. In Baden the time is limited to
three month8, except in the case of insurmountable hin-
derances. If the righl of presentation belong to several per-ons individually, they can agree upon a common choice, or designate each his own candidate, leaving the choice to the bishop; or the matter may be decided by tie majority of the votes; and in case of an equality of votes In favor of each candidate, the decision may be left again to the bishop. The same rules obtain when the righl of a patron has been transmitted to several heirs, in which case, of course, the heirs of one patron can give only one vote. If the right of presentation 1 ! oil e or a juridical person, the case is set-