precedent

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Middle French precedent (“earlier in time”) (modern précédent), recorded in Old French from the 13th century,^[2][3][4] and partly a direct borrowing of Latin praecēdēns (“going before, foregoing”), the present participle of praecēdō (“to go before”),^[2][5][6] the verb behind precede.^[3][7] That verb is formed of prae- (“before”) and cēdō (“to go”).^[7][5][8] The noun was formed in English from the adjective,^[2][9][5] though Merriam-Webster derives it from the Middle French noun.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, earlier in time, previous: c. 1400, in Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe.^[2][3][5] The noun, a previous instance taken as an example or rule for similar cases, follows in 1427, in the Rolls of Parliament, spelt precydente.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The noun began in parliamentary and administrative use, where a precedent was a recorded earlier case or, concretely, a document recording past proceedings (1450–1650).^[2] Its legal sense, a judicial decision that serves as an authority for later cases, is dated from 1523,^[2] and the collective use, precedents taken together as a system, from 1593.^[2] Other early senses died out: a sign or token (1518–93), an example to be copied, a model (1535–1754), and an original from which a copy is made, in Shakespeare's Richard III.^[2][8] From 1599 a precedent could be anything that goes before another, a forerunner.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave the adjective as "former; going before", with quotations from Shakespeare.^[10] The adjective is now rare,^[8] and the verb, recorded from 1614, survives mainly in the participle precedented.^[2][8]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – adjective, earlier in time.^[2][3]
• 1418 – adjective, coming before in order.^[2]
• 1427 – noun, an earlier instance taken as a rule.^[2][3]
• 1450 – a document recording past proceedings (obsolete by 1650).^[2]
• 1523 – (law) a decision serving as authority for later cases.^[2]
• 1535 – a model to be followed (obsolete by 1754).^[2]
• 1593 – precedents collectively.^[2]
• 1599 – a forerunner.^[2]
• 1614 – verb, to justify by a precedent.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An earlier event or action that is taken as an example or guide for later similar cases: The ruling set a precedent for other cities.
2. (law) A judicial decision that serves as an authority for deciding later cases; such decisions collectively.
3. Established custom or practice: They broke with precedent by holding the meeting abroad.

Adjective

1. (formal or rare) Going before in time or order; preceding.

Word family

• precedency
• precedential
• unprecedented

Related words

• precede
• precedence
• antecedent
• cede

Usage notes

The noun is stressed on the first syllable; the adjective may also be stressed on the second.^[11] Dictionary.com notes that precedents is easily confused with precedence and presidents.^[9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins