Nullum tempus, aut locus, occurrit regi -
No time runs against, or place affects, the king. By a council at Lateran, the Pope endeavored to take from princes and lay patrons, the right of presentation to a benefice by lapse, saying that the presentation was spiritual, whereas the common law of England says it is temporal, and it has been so declared by many Acts of Parliament ; the law being, that it is the right of the diocesan to present after six months' lapse by the patron, if the patron do not in the meantime, though after the six months, present, in which case the diocesan ought to receive the clerk presented ; and after default of the diocesan, then of the metropolitan ; and in default of him, the crown ; but when the king's turn comes to present, jure cornce, by lapse, the law is, “Nullum tempus occurrit regi ex consuetudine hactenus obtent' in regno Angliae” No time runs against the king according to the custom of England ; for the king being supremus Dominus, does not lose his right at all by lapse.
Case Reference - Reg. v. Eton College, 30 L. T. 186.
