PRE-EMP'TION, noun [Latin proe, before, and emptio, a buying; emo, to buy.] The act of purchasing before others.

1. The right of purchasing before others. Prior discovery of unoccupied land gives the discoverer the prior right of occupancy. Prior discovery of land inhabited by savages is held to give the discoverer the pre-emption or right of purchase before others.

2. Formerly, in England, the privilege or prerogative enjoyed by the king, of buying provisions for his household in preference to others, abolished by statute 19. Charles II.