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.] Shak.
4. (Law)
Defn: 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.
Syn. — Example; antecedent. — 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.
PRECEDENTED
Prec"e*dent*ed, a.
Defn: Having a precedent; authorized or sanctioned by an example of a like kind. Walpole.
PRECEDENTIAL
Prec`e*den"tial, a.
Defn: Of the nature of a precedent; having force as an example for imitation; as, precedential transactions. All their actions in that time are not precedential to warrant posterity. Fuller.