preaudience

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

preaudience (uncountable)

1. (historical, 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

• “preaudience”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.