historical precedent
Earlier similar case
Historical precedent is a past event, decision, or practice used to justify or guide present action.
Courts rely on historical precedent when applying earlier rulings to current cases.
Politicians invoke historical precedent to argue for or against policy: There's no historical precedent for removing a sitting president this way.
The phrase emphasizes that something has—or hasn't—been done before, lending weight to arguments about what should happen now.
- traditionCustom passed through generations
- case lawJudge-made legal doctrine
- common lawJurisprudence from judicial decisions
- test caseLawsuit establishing legal precedent
- landmarkNotable point of reference
ruling · legacy · custom · oral tradition · jurisprudence · doctrine · founding · founding fathers · old guard · ancestry · archive · written record · chronicle · watershed · turning point · milestone · benchmark · forerunner
historical precedentfirst instance
Earliest example of something
fresh start · blank slate · uncharted territory · terra incognita · year zero
historical precedentinnovation
Creating something original
novelty · departure · revolutionary change · paradigm shift · clean break
historical, precedent, history, historic, historically, historian, historiography, prehistoric, prehistory