PRES

7 definitions found across Law Mind sources

PRESAuthored
The Law Mind • 749 words
Definition
Law French. "Near." A particle used almost exclusively in legal texts as the first component of the phrase cy pres, meaning "so near" or "as near as possible." Standing alone, pres has no independent legal significance; its role is to anchor the cy pres doctrine, which directs courts to apply charitable gifts or trust assets to purposes as close as possible to the donor's original intent when the original purpose has become impossible, impractical, or illegal. ---
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Informal clipping of "presentation." Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not listed as a standard English entry; treated as a foreign or technical term. Editorial note: The gap here is total. The everyday clipped form "pres" has no relationship to the Law French particle. A researcher encountering "pres" in a legal manuscript or index is reading Law French, not shorthand for a modern English word. ---
Common Confusion
Pres is occasionally encountered in isolation in older indexes, headnotes, and legal manuscripts, causing researchers to treat it as a separate doctrine. It is not. Pres has no standalone legal doctrine attached to it. Every substantive legal meaning runs through cy pres. Researchers who encounter pres alone should immediately search under CY PRES. ---
Why It Matters in Research
The practical research significance of pres is almost entirely navigational. Historical indexes, digest systems, and older treatises sometimes file entries under P rather than C, meaning a researcher looking for cy pres doctrine may need to check both "Cy Pres" and "Pres" depending on the source and era. Bouvier's and Burrill's both cross-reference directly to cy pres from this entry, reflecting an awareness that the term would be encountered in isolation. In manuscript sources and older equity pleadings, pres may appear in abbreviated or contracted form. Law French orthography was inconsistent across centuries, and the same particle appears variously as pres, près, and near in translation. When working in equity records from English Chancery practice or early American chancery courts importing that practice, treat any variant as pointing to cy pres analysis. The Bouvier entry reproduced under this headword is editorially notable: it wanders into a discussion of charitable uses without completing the thought in the surviving excerpt. This is characteristic of the Bouvier entry for cy pres itself, and confirms that at least some editions grouped the pres entry as a gateway into the broader charitable trust discussion rather than as a standalone term. For researchers working in nonprofit law, class action settlement law, or trust administration, the operative doctrine is cy pres. The significance of locating pres in a source is that it confirms the source uses Law French conventions and may require adjusted search strategies throughout. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
All four source dictionaries are in complete agreement: pres means "near" in Law French and exists in legal usage only as part of cy pres. Black's (both editions) and Burrill's give nearly identical one-line entries. Bouvier's entry as preserved is fragmentary but consistent with that consensus. None of the historical dictionaries assign pres any independent doctrine or analytical content. This uniformity is itself informative: the historical lexicographers treated the term as a cross-reference placeholder, not a substantive entry. Researchers should not expect depth here; the depth lives under CY PRES. What the historical dictionaries do not address is the indexing problem — the practical reality that pres surfaces alone in older finding tools. That gap is bridged only by familiarity with Law French conventions and the corpus's own organizational habits. ---
Jurisdictional Note
Cy pres doctrine varies considerably between English equity practice, American common law trust doctrine, and modern statutory formulations (including the Uniform Trust Code). Because pres is purely definitional and not itself a rule, jurisdictional variation does not attach to this entry — it attaches to cy pres. See that entry for jurisdictional analysis. ---
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Nonprofits — The Cy Pres Doctrine and Charitable Trusts (The Law Mind Business Organizations & Corporate Law Encyclopedia) ---
Related Terms
CY PRES — the operative doctrine; the only context in which pres carries legal meaning CHARITABLE TRUST — the primary substantive subject of cy pres analysis CHARITABLE USE — historical precursor concept discussed in Bouvier's entry IMPOSSIBLE PURPOSE — the triggering condition for cy pres application APPROXIMATION — the equitable principle underlying cy pres; used synonymously in some jurisdictions LAW FRENCH — the linguistic register from which this term derives
PREScrossref
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
L. Fr. Near. Cy pres, so near; as near. See CY PRES.
PRESmain
Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928
There is no need of any particular per- sons or objects being specified; the gener- ality and indefiniteness of the object con- stituting the charitable character of the donation; Boyle, Char. 23. A charitable use, when neither law nor public policy forbids, may be applied to almost anything that tends to promote the well-doing and well-being of man; Perry, Trusts § 687. They embrace gifts to the poor of every class, including poor relations, where the intention is manifest: 83 Pa. 9; 2 Sneed 305; 4 Wheat. 518; 1 Sumn. 276; 35 Ν. Η. 445; 7 Ch. D. 714; for the poor of a county, "who by timely assistance may be kept from being carried to the poor house;" 2 Del. Ch. 392; id. 421; for every descrip- tion of college and school, and their instruc- tors and pupils, where nothing contrary to the fundamental doctrine of Christianity is taught; to all institutions for the advance- ment of the Christian religion; 7 B. Monr. 851, 481; 4 Ired. Eq. 19; 30 Pa. 425; to all churches 10 Cush. 129; 7 S. & R. 559; 4 La. 180; 63 Conn. 377; foreign missions; 86 Ky. 610; for the education of two young men for all coming time for the Christian ministry: 41 Fed. Rep. 371; the advancement of Christianity among the infidels; 1 Ves. Jr. 243; the benefit of ministers of the gospel; 28 N. J. Eq. 570; for distributing Bibles and religious tracts; 3 Cush. 358; 10 Pa. 23; chapels, hospitals, orphan asylums; 33 Pa. 9; 12 La. Ann. 301; 8 Rich. Eq. 190; 125 Mass. 321; even when discrimination is made in favor of members of one religious denomination; 90 Pa. 21; dispensaries; 27 Barb. 260; pub- lic libraries; 145 Ill. 625; and the like; 2 Sandf. Ch. 46; 14 Allen 539; 2 Sim. & S. 594; 7 H. L. Cas. 124; friendly societies; 32 Ch. D. 158; the Salvation Army: 34 Ch. D. 528; educational trusts; [1895] 1 Ch. 367; a volunteer corps; [1894] 8 Ch. 265; any religious society; [1893] 2 Ch. 41; (but not a Dominican convent, for the pro- motion of private prayer by its own mem- bers; id. 51); a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals (but not for the maintenance of animals); 41 Ch. D. 552; [1895] 2 Ch. 501; to repair a sea dyke; 38 Ch. D. 507; to provide a scholarship [1895] 1 Ch. 480; to repair a churchyard; 33 Ch. D. 187; but not to repair a tomb; L. R. 4 Eq. 521. Sport is not a charity; [1895] 2 Ch. 649; to general public purposes; 80 Pa. 487; as supplying water or light to towns, building roads and bridges, keeping them in repair, etc.; 24 Conn. 350; and to the advancement of religion and other charitable purposes general in their cha- racter; 4 R. I. 414; 12 La. Ann. 301; 5 Ohio St. 237; 33 Pa. 413; 81 id. 445; 152 id. 477; 5 Ind. 465; L. R. 10 Eq. 246; L. R. 1 Eq. 585; L. R. 4 Ch. App. 309; L. R. 20 Eq. 483; 2 Pa. Dist. R. 435; 159 Mass. 226; 51 N... Eq. 154; [1893] 2 Ch. 41; 60 Fed. Rep. 365; Tudor, Char. Tr.; or a devise may be made to a municipal corporation for chari- table uses; 2 How. 128; 112 Mo. 561; 116 Ind. 139; and a city may refuse to accept such a bequest; 60 Conn. 314. A chari- table devise may become void for uncer- tainty as to the beneficiary; 51 Minn. 277; 37 8. C. 457; 77 Md. 104; 92 Tenn. 559; 8 Misc. Rep. 388. The decision that the appropriation for the World's Colum- bian Exposition was a charitable use; 56 Fed. Rep. 630; was reversed by the Cir- cuit Court of Appeals, which held that, be- ing made for the benefit of a local corpo- ration, it did not constitute a charitable trust, although aiding a great public enter- prise; id. 654. When the purposes of a charity may be best sustained by alienating the specific property bequeathed and investing the proceeds in a different manner, a court of equity has jurisdiction to direct such sale and investment, taking care that no devia- tion of the gift be permitted; 6 Wall. 169; 44 N. J. Eq. 179; 70 Md. 139. Charities in England were formerly in- terpreted, sustained, controlled, and ap- plied by the court of chancery, in virtue of its general jurisdiction in equity, aided by the stat. 43 Eliz. c. 4 and the prerogative of the crown; the latter being exercised by the lord chancellor, as the delegate of the sovereign acting as parens patriæ; Spence, Eq. Jur. 439, 441; 12 Mass. 537. The sub- ject has since been regulated by various statutes; the Charitable Trusts Act of 1853, 16 & 17 Vict. c. 137, amended by vari- ous subsequent acts down to 1894; Tud. Char. Tr. part iii.; 3d ed. By the Tol- eration Act, 1 Wm. & M. c. 18, chari- table trusts for promoting the religious opinions of Protestant Dissenters have been held valid; 2 Ves. Sen. 273. Roman Catho- lics share in their benefits; 2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 115; and Jews, by 9 & 10 Vict. c. 59, § 2. The weight of judicial authority in Eng- land was in favor of the doctrine which, as will be seen, prevails in this country, that equity exercised an inherent jurisdiction over charitable uses independently of the statute of Elizabeth;-that the statute did not create, but was in aid of, the jurisdic- tion. In support of this conclusion are fo
PRESmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
v. Ashenfelter, 4 N. M. 93, 12 rac 879: State ¥. Archibald, 6 N. D. 339, 66 N. W. 234; Duluth Elevator Co. v. White, 11 nN D. 534, se Ww. aan Attorney General v. Eau Claire, 37 is. . L. Fr. Near. as near. See Cy PaRsEs. Oy pres, so near;
presnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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Clipping of presentation.
presnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
Abbreviation of present.
presnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
plural of pre

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