Precedent PRECE'DENT, a. Going before in time; anterior; antecedent;
as precedent services; a precedent fault of the will. The world,
or any part thereof, could not be precedent to the creation of man.
A precedent condition, in law, is a condition which must happen or be
performed before an estate or some right can vest, and on failure of
which the estate or right is defeated. PREC'EDENT, n. Something
done or said, that may serve or be adduced as an example to authorize a
subsequent act of the like kind. Examples for cases can but direct
as precedents only. 1. In law, a judicial decision, interlocutory
or final, which serves as a rule for future determinations in similar
or analogous cases; or any proceeding or course of proceedings which
may serve for a rule insubsequent cases of a like nature.
precedent
adj 1: preceding in time, order, or significance
n 1: an example that is used to justify similar occurrences at a
later time [syn: precedent, case in point]
2: (civil law) a law established by following earlier judicial
decisions [syn: case law, precedent, common law]
3: a system of jurisprudence based on judicial precedents rather
than statutory laws; "common law originated in the unwritten
laws of England and was later applied in the United States"
[syn: common law, case law, precedent]
4: a subject mentioned earlier (preceding in time)
precedent I. adjectiveEtymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin
praecedent-, praecedens, present participle of praecedereDate: 15th century
prior in time, order, arrangement, or significance II. nounDate: 15th century 1. an earlier occurrence of something
similar 2.a. something done or said that may serve as an example or rule
to authorize or justify a subsequent act of the same or an analogous kind
<a verdict that had no precedent> b. the convention
established by such a precedent or by long practice
3. a person or thing that serves as a model
precedent n. & adj. --n. a previous case or legal decision etc. taken as a guide for subsequent cases or as a justification. --adj. preceding in time, order, importance,
etc. Derivatives: precedently adv. Etymology: ME f. OF (n. & adj.) (as PRECEDE)
Precedent \Pre*ced"ent\, a. [L. praecedens, -entis, p. pr. of
praecedere: cf. F. pr['e]c['e]dent. See Precede.]
Going before; anterior; preceding; antecedent; as, precedent
services. --Shak. ``A precedent injury.'' --Bacon.
Condition precedent (Law), a condition which precede the
vesting of an estate, or the accruing of a right.
Precedent \Prec"e*dent\, n.
1. Something done or said that may serve as an example to
authorize a subsequent act of the same kind; an
authoritative example.
Examples for cases can but direct as precedents
only. --Hooker.
2. A preceding circumstance or condition; an antecedent;
hence, a prognostic; a token; a sign. [Obs.]
3. A rough draught of a writing which precedes a finished
copy. [Obs.] --Shak.
4. (Law) A judicial decision which serves as a rule for
future determinations in similar or analogous cases; an
authority to be followed in courts of justice; forms of
proceeding to be followed in similar cases. --Wharton.
Syn: Example; antecedent.
Usage: Precedent, Example. An example in a similar case
which may serve as a rule or guide, but has no
authority out of itself. A precedent is something
which comes down to us from the past with the sanction
of usage and of common consent. We quote examples in
literature, and precedents in law.
precedent
I. a.
Antecedent, See preceding.
II. n.
Authoritative example, prior instance, antecedent, example, pattern, historic warrant, authority
in past practice.
On most web browsers you can double click any word on this page to see what definitions I have for that word.
This dictionary server is not an authoratative source of information for anything. Like almost everything at sorabji.com, I set this up for my own purposes. In this case the purpose is to
browse words and ideas at random. An automatically generated page that produces 1000 Random Words
is my gateway to this resource. I also attempt a word of the day project,
in which I attempt to write something about myself starting with interesting words that I find through the Wordswarm Random Words Pages. I have made
available the complete 1828 Webster's Dictionary, which many feel is the greatest English dictionary ever published.
Other random links of mine include the Sorabji.com Random Link, which sends you to one of
over 7,000 pages on my web sites; the Face Server produces random images of
human faces; clicking the Random WAYD link shows you a random posting to my "What Are You Doing?" board; the Random USPS
Mailbox link sends you to a page with information about a random mailbox; and the random pictures page page of sorabji.com shows one of over 11,000 random images any time you load the page. On an unrelated note, I have begun making several thousand pages of legal documents searchable.