2 uses
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Definition
an example from a prior time — typically used to justify similar occurrences at a later time (especially a judicial decision)
- And for this method we plead many precedents.Book 4 (2% in)
- Avarice presently treated this with ridicule, called it a distinction without a difference, and absolutely insisted that when once all pretensions of honour and virtue were given up in any one instance, that there was no precedent for resorting to them upon a second occasion.Book 6 (96% in)
There are no more uses of "precedent" in Tom Jones.
Typical Usage
(best examples)