pre·ce·dent /prɪˈsidṇt, ˈprɛsədənt/
先例,前例(a.)在先的,在前的
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.]
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.
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.
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Pre·ced·ent a. Going before; anterior; preceding; antecedent; as, precedent services. --Shak. “A precedent injury.”
Condition precedent Law, a condition which precede the vesting of an estate, or the accruing of a right.
precedent
adj : preceding in time, order, or significance
n 1: an example that is used to justify similar occurrences at a
later time [syn: case in point]
2: (civil law) a law established by following earlier judicial
decisions [syn: case law, 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]
4: a subject mentioned earlier (preceding in time)