precedent
/ˈprɛsɪdənt/noun, adjective
Earlier example guiding later decisions or actions
From Latin praecēdēre (to go before).
Lineage
The story
Picture a Roman official walking ahead of a procession: that is the image inside Latin praecēdēre, “to go before,” whose participle praecēdēns became precedent. English borrowed it through Old French, first using it for an earlier instance that could serve as a model—or a warning. By the 1680s, lawyers had narrowed the idea to a judicial decision that helps determine later cases, the backbone of common-law reasoning and its principle of stare decisis. The same “before” idea appears in precedence and precede, while recede reverses the direction: to go back. A precedent is therefore not merely an old event; it is an event sent marching ahead to show everyone else where to step.
Words from the same roots
praecēdēre · Latin, ‘to go before’
Derivedprecede, preceding, precedence, procession, recede