Chapter the seventeenth.
Of TITLE by PRESCRIPTION.
A Third method of acquiring real property by purchaſe is that by preſcription; as when a man can ſhew no other title to what he claims, than that he, and thoſe under whom he claims, have immemorially uſed to enjoy it. Concerning cuſtoms, or immemorial uſages, in general, with the ſeveral requiſites and rules to be obſerved, in order to prove their exiſtence and validity, we enquired at large in the preceding part of theſe commentaries[1]. At preſent therefore I ſhall only, firſt, diſtinguiſh between cuſtom, ſtrictly taken, and preſcription; and then ſhew, what ſort of things may be preſcribed for.
And, firſt, the diſtinction between cuſtom and preſcription is this; that cuſtom is properly a local uſage, and not annexed to any perſon; ſuch as, a cuſtom in the manor of Dale that lands ſhall deſcend to the youngeſt ſon: preſcription is merely a perſonal uſage; as, that Sempronius, and his anceſtors, or thoſe whoſe eſtate he hath, have uſed time out of mind to have ſuch an advantage or privilege[2]. As for example: if there be a uſage in the pariſh of Dale, that all the inhabitants of that pariſh may dance on a certain cloſe, at all times, for their recreation; (which is held[3] to be a lawful uſage) this is ſtrictly a cuſtom, for it is applied to the place in general, and not to any particular perſons; but if the
