INTRODUCTION.

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Prescription is defined in the " Code Civil" as a means of acquiring or of being discharged by lapse of time, and subject to conditions established by law.

"In positive prescription, title is presumed or confirmed, and ownership is transferred to a possessor by the continuance of his possession.

"Extinctive or negative prescription is a bar to, and in some cases precludes any action for the fulfilment of an obligation, or the acknowledgment of a right when the creditor has not preferred his claim within the time fixed by law." Code Civil du Bas Canada, Article 2183.

"It might at first sight be considered that the duration of wrong ought not to give it a sanction, and that the long suffering of injury should be no bar to the obtaining of right when demanded. But human affairs must be conducted on other principles. It is found to be of the greatest importance to promote peace by affixing a period to the right of disturbing possession. Experience teaches us that owing to the perishable nature of all evidence, the truth cannot be ascertained on any contested question of fact after a considerable lapse of time. The temptation to introduce false evidence grows with the difficulty of detecting it; and at last long possession affords the proof most likely to be relied upon of the right of property. Independent of the question of right, the disturbance of property after long enjoyment is mischievous; it is accordingly found both reasonable and useful that enjoyment for a certain period of time against all claimants should be considered exclusive evidence of concisive title." First Report of Real Property Commissioners, England, 39; Dundee Harbour v. Dougall, 1 McQueen, H. L. C. 321; Brown's Legal Maxims (5th edition), 343, 892.