PRAES, is a surety for one who buys of the state. The goods of a
Praes were called _Praedia_. The _Praediator_ was a person who bought
a _praedium_, that is, a thing given to the state as a security by a
praes.
PRAESCRIPTĬO, or rather TEMPŎRIS PRAESCRIPTĬO, signifies the Exceptio
or answer which a defendant has to the demand of a plaintiff, founded
on the circumstance of the lapse of time. The word has properly no
reference to the plaintiff’s loss of right, but to the defendant’s
acquisition of a right by which he excludes the plaintiff from
prosecuting his suit. This right of a defendant did not exist in the
old Roman law.