In international law . The right of pre-emption is the right of a nation to detain the merchandise of strangers passing through her territories or seas, in order to afford to her subjects the preference of purchase. 1 Chit. Com. Law, 103. In English law . The first buying of a thing. A privilege formerly enjoyed by the crown, of buying up provisions and other necessaries , by the intervention of the king’s purveyors, for the use of his royal household, at an appraised valuation, in preference to all others, and even without consent of the owner. 1 Bl. Comm. 2S7; Garcia v. Callender, 125 N. Y. 307, 20 N. E. 2S3. In the United States , the right of preemption is a privilege accorded by the gov- ernment to the actual settler upon a certain limited portion of the public domain , to pur- chase such tract at a fixed price to the exclusion of all other applicants. Nix v. Allen, 112 U. S. 129, 5 Sup. Ct. 70, 28 L. Ed. 075; Bray v. Ragsdale, 53 Mo. 170.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
