Careful Words

precedent (n.)

precedent (adj.)

Mastering the lawless science of our law,—

That codeless myriad of precedent,

That wilderness of single instances.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): Aylmer's Field.

  A precedent embalms a principle.

Benjamin Disraeli (Earl Beaconsfield) (1805-1881): Speech, Feb. 22, 1848.

His deeds inimitable, like the sea

That shuts still as it opes, and leaves no tracts

Nor prints of precedent for poor men's facts.

George Chapman (1557-1634): Bussy D'Ambois. Act i. Sc. 1.