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)