Precedent
['presɪd(ə)nt] or ['prɛsɪdənt]
Definition
(noun.) an example that is used to justify similar occurrences at a later time.
(noun.) a subject mentioned earlier (preceding in time).
(adj.) preceding in time, order, or significance .
Typist: Yvette--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Going before; anterior; preceding; antecedent; as, precedent services.
(n.) Something done or said that may serve as an example to authorize a subsequent act of the same kind; an authoritative example.
(n.) A preceding circumstance or condition; an antecedent; hence, a prognostic; a token; a sign.
(n.) A rough draught of a writing which precedes a finished copy.
(n.) 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.
Typist: Montague
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Antecedent, PRECEDING.
n. Authoritative example.
Edited by Colin
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Anterior, prior, earlier
ANT:Subsequent, posterior, Inter
SYN:Instance, example, authority, warrant, antecedent, pattern
ANT:Prohibition, diswarrant, disallowance
Inputed by Kelly
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. In Law a previous decision rule or practice which in the absence of a definite statute has whatever force and authority a Judge may choose to give it thereby greatly simplifying his task of doing as he pleases. As there are precedents for everything he has only to ignore those that make against his interest and accentuate those in the line of his desire. Invention of the precedent elevates the trial-at-law from the low estate of a fortuitous ordeal to the noble attitude of a dirigible arbitrament.
Edited by Ben
Examples
- But Precedent and Precipitate were, under all circumstances, the well-matched pair of battle-horses of this able Circumlocutionist. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- This evidently destroys the precedent reasoning concerning the cause of thought or perception. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- His proposition was against all precedent. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The man who will follow precedent, but never create one, is merely an obvious example of the routineer. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- If neither be back at the end of a year a second trial may be held--the thing has a precedent. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- There would be no Precedents to hammer at, except the plain-sailing Precedent of keeping the light up. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- A most dangerous precedent indeed! Jane Austen. Emma.
- But Precedent and Precipitate together frightened all objection out of most people. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- It will be easy to explain the passion of pity, from the precedent reasoning concerning sympathy. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- It is not a convenient precedent at all. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Such changes no doubt were not without precedent in his experience of persons mentally afflicted. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- This clearly appears from the precedent explication of necessity. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Chancery, which knows no wisdom but in precedent, is very rich in such precedents; and why should one be different from ten thousand? Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Such was the dinner without precedent, given by Pancks at Pentonville; and such was the busy and strange life Pancks led. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- They are unfettered by precedent in the administration of justice. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- There were no precedents, nothing upon which to build or improve. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- While the routineers see machinery and precedents revolving with mankind as puppets, he puts the deliberate, conscious, willing individual at the center of his philosophy. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- There would be no Precedents to hammer at, except the plain-sailing Precedent of keeping the light up. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Is Richard a monster in all this, or would Chancery be found rich in such precedents too if they could be got for citation from the Recording Angel? Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The Imperial Palace and the entourage were equally based on Roman and Persian precedents. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Whether they had ever, at different times, pleaded for and against the same cause, and cited precedents to prove contrary opinions? Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- Suppose that statesmen transferred their reverence from the precedents and mistakes of their ancestors to the human material which they have set out to govern. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Chancery, which knows no wisdom but in precedent, is very rich in such precedents; and why should one be different from ten thousand? Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- What can be taught by rule of thumb is the administration of precedents. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- So that, however I may have occasion to rue my present audacity, I have at least the most respectable precedents in my favour. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
Inputed by Huntington