Word Direct Answers

What does "precedent" mean?

Precedent: 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.

Additional senses

  1. 2.A preceding circumstance or condition; an antecedent; hence, a prognostic; a token; a sign. [Obs.]
  2. 3.A rough draught of a writing which precedes a finished copy. [Obs.] Shak.
  3. 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. -- 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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