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Principle vs Precedent - What's the difference?

principle | precedent | Related terms |

In obsolete terms the difference between principle and precedent

is that principle is a beginning while precedent is a rough draught of a writing which precedes a finished copy.

As nouns the difference between principle and precedent

is that principle is a fundamental assumption while precedent is an act in the past which may be used as an example to help decide the outcome of similar instances in the future.

As verbs the difference between principle and precedent

is that principle is to equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet or rule of conduct while precedent is to provide precedents for.

As an adjective precedent is

happening or taking place earlier in time; previous or preceding.

principle

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A fundamental assumption.
  • * {{quote-web, date=2011-07-20, author=Edwin Mares, site=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, title= Propositional Functions
  • , accessdate = 2012-07-15}}
    Let us consider ‘my dog is asleep on the floor’ again. Frege thinks that this sentence can be analyzed in various different ways. Instead of treating it as expressing the application of __ is asleep on the floor'' to ''my dog'', we can think of it as expressing the application of the concept
         ''my dog is asleep on __''
    to the object
         ''the floor''
    (see Frege 1919). Frege recognizes what is now a commonplace in the logical analysis of natural language. ''We can attribute more than one logical form to a single sentence
    . Let us call this the principle of multiple analyses . Frege does not claim that the principle always holds, but as we shall see, modern type theory does claim this.
  • A rule used to choose among solutions to a problem.
  • (usually, in the plural) Moral rule or aspect.
  • (physics) A rule or law of nature, or the basic idea on how the laws of nature are applied.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Sarah Glaz
  • , title= Ode to Prime Numbers , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles , attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.}}
  • A fundamental essence, particularly one producing a given quality.
  • * Gregory
  • Cathartine is the bitter, purgative principle of senna.
  • (obsolete) A beginning.
  • * (Edmund Spenser)
  • Doubting sad end of principle unsound.
  • A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
  • * Tillotson
  • The soul of man is an active principle .
  • An original faculty or endowment.
  • * Stewart
  • those active principles whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering

    Usage notes

    Principle is always a noun ("moral rule"), but it is often confused with (principal), which can be an adjective ("most important") or a noun ("school principal"). Consult both definitions if in doubt. Incorrect usage: * He is the principle musician in the band * She worked ten years as school principle A mnemonic to avoid this confusion is "The principal'' alphabetic ''principle'' places ''A'' before ''E ".

    Synonyms

    * (moral rule or aspect) tenet

    Derived terms

    * agreement in principle * anthropic principle * Aufbau principle * Bernoulli's principle * correspondence principle * cosmological principle * Dilbert principle * dormitive principle * equivalence principle * extractive principle * first principles * Huygens' principle * IBM Pollyanna Principle * Le Chatelier's principle * Mach's principle * matter of principle * Matthew principle * Mitchell principle * on principle * Pareto principle * Pauli exclusion principle * Peter principle * pigeonhole principle * precautionary principle * principle of least action * principle of substitutivity * principled stance * programming principle * reciprocity principle * strong equivalence principle * superposition principle * uncertainty principle * verifiability principle

    Verb

  • To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet or rule of conduct.
  • * L'Estrange
  • Governors should be well principled .
  • * Locke
  • Let an enthusiast be principled that he or his teacher is inspired.

    precedent

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act in the past which may be used as an example to help decide the outcome of similar instances in the future.
  • * Hooker
  • Examples for cases can but direct as precedents only.
  • (legal) A decided case which is cited or used as an example to justify a judgment in a subsequent case.
  • (obsolete, with definite article) The aforementioned (thing).
  • *, New York 2001, p.74:
  • A third argument may be derived from the precedent .
  • The previous version.
  • (obsolete) A rough draught of a writing which precedes a finished copy.
  • (Shakespeare)

    Derived terms

    * binding precedent * declaratory precedent * original precedent * persuasive precedent * precedented * precedential * precedent-setting * precedent sub silentio * unprecedented

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Happening or taking place earlier in time; previous or preceding.
  • *, III.2.1.i:
  • In the precedent section mention was made, amongst other pleasant objects, of this comeliness and beauty which proceeds from women […].

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (legal) To provide precedents for.
  • (legal) To be a precedent for.
  • See also

    * stare decisis ----