PRESENT'MENT, n. s as z. The act of presenting. 1. Appearance to the view; representation.2. In law, a presentment, properly speaking, is the notice taken by a grand jury of any offense from their own knowledge or observation, without any bill of indictment laid before them at the suit of the king; as the presentment of a nuisance, a libel or the like, on which the officer of the court must afterwards frame an indictment, before the party presented can be put to answer it.3. In a more general sense, presentment comprehends inquisitions of office and indictments.In the United States, a presentment is an official accusation presented to a tribunal by the grand jury in an indictment; or it is the act of offering an indictment. It is also used for the indictment itself. The grand jury are charged to inquire and due presentment make of all crimes, &c. The use of the word is limited to accusations by grand jurors.4. The official notice in court which the jury or homage gives of the surrender of a copyhold estate.
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