Pre-emption

(-ěm's hun.) [From L. præemptio.] (Inter. Law.) The right of a state to detain the merchandise of strangers pa ed over her seas or through her territories, in order to allow her subjects the preference of purchasing the same.-(Amer. Law.) The right accorded to settlers upon the public lands belonging to the U. S. govt., to make purchase of them at a certain price, in preference to placing them upon the open market. [s. 729]