This essay by Thomas Arnold Herbert, first published in 1891, deals with the history of prescription in English law, analogous to the more commonly known statute of limitations. Herbert won the prestigious Yorke Prize in 1890 for a longer version of this essay, which was then reduced by the author to a more specific treatise on this aspect of the history of law. This is a highly informative essay on the evolution of an important aspect of English jurisdiction and is well supplied with a list of the relevant case law.