presentment

{{Short description|An act of presenting to an authority a formal statement of a matter to be dealt with}}

A presentment is the act of presenting to an authority a formal statement of a matter to be dealt with.{{Cite web |title=Presentment |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/presentment |work=Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-Webster |access-date=15 November 2023}} It can be a formal presentation of a matter such as a complaint, indictment or bill of exchange. In early-medieval England, juries of presentment would hear inquests in order to establish whether someone should be presented for a crime.{{Cite book |last=Drew |first=Katherine Fischer |year=2004 |title=Magna Carta |location=Westport, CT |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |pages=42–43 |isbn=978-0313325908 |oclc=54479810}}

In the Church of England, Churchwardens' Presentments are reports to the bishop relating to parishioners' misdemeanors and other things amiss in the parish.{{Cite book |title=The Canons of the Church of England: Canons Ecclesiastical Promulgated by the Convocations of Canterbury and York in 1964 and 1969 and by the General Synod of the Church of England from 1970 |edition=6th |year=2000 |location=London |publisher=Church House Publishing |page=165 |isbn=9780715138427 |oclc=416575883}}