PRE

5 definitions found across Law Mind sources

PREAuthored
The Law Mind • 754 words
Definition
"Pre" is a prefix derived from the Latin preposition *prae*, meaning "before." In legal usage, it functions as a combining element that modifies a root term to indicate priority of time, place, or rank. It does not stand alone as a legal term of art but carries consistent operative meaning across the many compound terms it forms: whatever follows "pre-" is temporally, sequentially, or hierarchically prior to some reference point established by context. Examples in legal usage are extensive: pre-trial (before trial), pre-judgment (before judgment is entered), pre-existing (existing before a relevant date or event), pre-nuptial (before marriage), pre-emption (right to purchase before others), pre-meditated (formed before the act). NOTE ON BURRILL'S ENTRY: Burrill's entry under "Pre" pivots almost immediately to PRÆTOR, the Roman judicial magistrate, which is a separate headword. Researchers consulting Burrill should recognize that the substantive content at this entry location is about the praetorship, not the prefix itself. The prefix definition ("before") is stated in passing only.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Informal clippings — "pre-drink" (a drink taken before going out) and "pre-cum" (a physiological term). Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not independently listed; treated as a prefix meaning "before, prior to, in advance." The gap between common and legal use is not one of meaning but of register and function. In law, "pre-" is a workhorse of precision: it locks a condition, event, or status to a specific temporal position relative to a legal proceeding, transaction, or relationship. The casual clipped forms in modern common usage have no legal relevance.
Why It Matters in Research
The prefix "pre-" generates a large family of compound legal terms, and researchers must treat each compound independently — the prefix alone does not determine legal significance; the compound does. Several traps appear in historical research: First, Latin and Anglicized spelling variants coexist in older sources. Pre-, prae-, and præ- all appear, sometimes within the same document. Historical indexes may file terms under "Prae-" rather than "Pre-," and search tools that do not normalize these variants will miss results. Burrill consistently uses the Latin æ ligature; Anderson uses the Anglicized form. A researcher working across both corpora must check both spellings. Second, compound terms involving "pre-" often have legal meanings that changed sharply at specific statutory or doctrinal moments. "Pre-existing condition" acquired new legal weight under insurance regulation; "pre-trial detention" standards shifted with constitutional decisions; "pre-2019" is now a term of art in federal tax law governing alimony deductibility. The prefix alone tells you nothing about which legal regime applies — the date and jurisdiction do. Third, "preemption" (or pre-emption) is a significant doctrinal term in both property law (right of first purchase) and constitutional law (federal displacement of state law), and the two meanings are historically and conceptually distinct. Researchers encountering "pre-emption" in older sources should not assume the constitutional sense. Fourth, because "pre-" terms are indexed differently across dictionaries — sometimes under "P," sometimes under "Pr," sometimes under "Prae-" — exhaustive research requires checking multiple index headings.
Historical Dictionary Support
Anderson is sparse: a one-line entry identifying "pre" as the Anglicized form of Latin *prae* and noting its role in compounds to express priority of time, place, or rank. This is accurate and sufficient for the prefix alone. Burrill is more interesting for what it does not do: the entry nominally covers the prefix but immediately pivots to the Roman PRÆTOR, providing a detailed account of that magistrate's judicial and equity jurisdiction with citations to Hallifax, Mackeldey, Story's Equity Jurisprudence, and the Digest. This reflects a common feature of 19th-century legal dictionaries — the Latin origin served as a hook to discuss classical legal institutions. Researchers should treat Burrill's entry here as primarily a source on Roman praetorian jurisdiction, not on the prefix. Neither dictionary attempts to enumerate the compound terms formed with "pre-," which means historical researchers must independently locate those headwords.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
The Law Mind Tax Encyclopedia: Deductions — Alimony Payments Pre-2019 (illustrates "pre-" as a temporal dividing line in a tax context) The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia: Right to Silence — Pre-Arrest and Post-Arrest (illustrates "pre-" marking procedural stage) The Law Mind Business Organizations & Corporate Law Encyclopedia: Nonprofits — The Cy Pres Doctrine and Charitable Trusts (related Latin-derived legal term; useful for researchers tracing prae- derivatives)
Related Terms
PREEMPTION — PREMEDITATION — PRE-EXISTING CONDITION — PRETRIAL DETENTION — PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT — PREJUDGMENT INTEREST — PRÆTOR — POST (contrasting prefix) — ANTE (Latin equivalent prefix)
PREmain
Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890
The Anglicized form of the Latin preposition præ, before. In compounds, expresses priority of time, place, or rank.
PREmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1870
(324) before.] In the civil law. The chief judicial magistrate among the Romans, who exercised an extensive equity jurisdiction. Hallifax, Anal. lib. 3, c. 8, num. 2. Dig. 1. 14. Cod. 1. 39. Adam's Rom. Ant. 128. 1 Mackeld. Civ. Law, 20, § 30. 1 Story's Eq. Jur. §§ 5, 50. The governor of a province. See Nov. 24, pr. Nov. 25, pr. Nov. 29, c. 2. Tayl. Civ. Law, 210. PRÆTOR FIDEI-COMMISSARIUS. Lat. In the civil law. A special prætor created to pronounce judgment in cases of trusts or fidei-commissa. Inst. 2. 23. 1. 2 Story's Eq. Jur. § 966. Called, by Lord Bacon, a "particular chancellor for uses." Bacon on the Stat. of Uses, Law Tracts, 315. 4 Kent's Com. 290. PRÆVARICATOR. Lat. In the civil law. One who betrays his trust, or is unfaithful to his trust. An advocate who aids the opposite party by betraying his client's cause. Dig. 47. 15. 1. Used in Spanish law. Las Partidas, part. 3, tit. 6, 1. 15. PRÆVENTO TERMINO. L. Lat. In old Scotch practice. A form of action known in the forms of the Court of Session, by which a delay to discuss a suspension or advocation was got the better of. Bell's Dict. (325) upon request, in which the lender grants precept of seisin was the order of a supethe use of the subject in express words, rior to his bailie, to give infeftment of cerrevocable at pleasure. Dig. 43. 26. Bell's tain lands to his vassal. Bell's Dict. Dict. (326) profits of lands, as of corn, (grain,) grass, This departure from the proper meaning hops and wood. 2 Bl. Com. 24. (327) 3 Bl. Com. 264. Or he is said to prescribe that he, and all those whose estate (L. Fr. que estate,) he has, have used for such length of time to have common, &c.; which is technically called prescribing in a que estate. Id. 264, 265. in voting, or the privilege of voting first; prescription in a man and his ancestors. the century or tribe which had such privilege being so called from præ, before, and rogare, to ask or give a vote. Adam's Rom. Ant. 97. Crabb's Hist. Eng. Law, 204. According to Lord Coke, prerogative denotes, in its proper sense, the privilege of the royal assent to acts passed by the houses of parliament, which must be asked and obtained before such acts can become laws. Co. Litt. 90 b. * (328) a living, in offering a clerk to the ordinary PREST, (and afterwards PRIST.) L. for institution. (329) Stark. Evid. 23, 24. See 3 Id. 1234. -A no special inference or process of reasoning probable inference which our common from fact to fact, as there is in natural presense draws from circumstances usually sumption. What is called legal presumpoccurring in such cases. 1 Phill. Evid. 436.-A probable consequence drawn from facts, as to the truth of a fact alleged, but of which there is no direct proof. Wills' Circ. Evid. 17. - An inference affirmative or disaffirmative of the existence of a disputed fact, drawn by a judicial tribunal, by a process of probable reasoning, from some one or more matters of fact, either admitted in the cause, or otherwise satisfactorily established. Best on Presumptions, 12, § 11. See 1 Greenl. Evid. §§ 14 -48. See Præsumptio. An assumption or proposition; such as the presumption of sanity. Burr. Circ. Evid. 38, 39. A principle or rule; as a tion is properly assumption; a legal presumption is a proposition of law, or the application to a certain fact proved, of a rule previously established. 6 Lond. Law Mag. 354. Burr. Circ. Ev. 43, 50.
preverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
Clipping of pre-drink. | Clipping of precum.
preprep
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
Before (something significant).

Explore the full Law Mind legal research platform.

SubscribeEncyclopediaSign In