preaudience

English

Etymology

pre- +‎ audience, i.e. the right to be heard before another.

Noun

preaudience (uncountable)

1. (UK, law) Precedence of rank at the bar among lawyers.
   • 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

     A patent of precedence is sometimes granted cedence to barristers , which entitles them to such rank and preaudience as are assigned in their respective patents

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “preaudience”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)