Presentment
PRESENT'MENT, noun 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, etc. 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.