prescription
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 85 U.S. 57 - Weber v. The Board of Harbor Commissioners · 1873Most cited · 221 citing opinions
When, therefore, no claim to property is made for years against the possessor, the presumption arises that his possession is founded in right, and by statute the presumption being conclusive, the possessor is said to have acquired title by operation of the statute or by prescription.
How the Supreme Court has restated “prescription”
Each Supreme Court definition of “prescription,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “prescription”
Court decisions citing the 4 opinions that defined “prescription” — 444 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 4 definitions, chronological · 1873–1940
Independently of any effect due to the compact as such, a boundary line between states or provinces, as between private persons, which has been run out, located, and marked upon the earth, and afterwards recognized and acquiesced in by the parties for a long course of years, is conclusive, even if it be ascertained that it varies somewhat from the courses given in the original grant; and the line so established takes effect, not as an alienation of territory, but as a definition of the true and ancient boundary.
between states; long acquiescence in boundary
The general principle of public law that as between states long acquiescence in the possession of territory under a claim of right and in the exercise of dominion and sovereignty over it, is conclusive of the rightful authority ... a principle by which prescription founded on length of time is regarded as establishing an incontestible right
between states
long acquiescence in the possession of territory, and in the exercise of dominion and sovereignty over it, is conclusive of the nation's title and rightful authority