PRECEDENT

Precedent

In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. The general principle in common law legal systems is that similar cases should be decided so as to give similar and predictable outcomes, and the principle of precedent is the mechanism by which that goal is attained. Black's Law Dictionary defines "precedent" as a "rule of law established for the first time by a court for a particular type of case and thereafter referred to in deciding ...

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precedent

Noun

  1. An act in the past which may be used as an example to help decide the outcome of similar instances in the future.
  2. A decided case which is cited or used as an example to justify a judgment in a subsequent case.
  3. The aforementioned (thing).
  4. The previous version.
  5. A rough draught of a writing which precedes a finished copy.

Verb

  1. To provide precedents for.
  2. To be a precedent for.

Adjective

  1. Happening or taking place earlier in time; previous or preceding.
  2. Coming before in a particular order or arrangement; preceding, foregoing.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: precedent
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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