Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Relating to or expressing entreaty or supplication.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Relating to prayer; being in the form of a prayer or supplication.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Expressing a
wish . - adjective law Expressing a wish but not creating any legal
obligation orduty .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective expressing entreaty or supplication
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Siegfried called that wording "precatory" -- a suggestion -- and not mandatory, leaving open the possibility that the money could go out after the specified date.
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Barnett thinks Congress may make precatory resolutions:
The Volokh Conspiracy » Is the Health Care Mandate a Direct Tax? 2010
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The view that the Confrontation Clause and the Right to Trial by Jury are merely precatory, to be ignored whenever a prosecutor wants to admit an “Expert” report, or when a factual issue can plausibly be characterized as merely a sentencing factor?
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Because the Constitution gives the President the discretion to recommend only “such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient” Article II, section 3 of the Constitution, the specified officers and I shall treat these directions as precatory.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Recalling Candidate Obama on Signing Statements: 2009
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Finally, the militia clause is what is referred to by lawyers as "precatory language."
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Note that if legislators were somehow! required to read all bills passed into law, they would just withdraw into precatory vagaries, and leave all the detail to bureaucrats.
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Carter objected that Congress "cannot mandate the establishment of consular relations at a time and place unacceptable to the President," and accordingly stated his determination to construe the provision as merely precatory.
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Carter objected that Congress "cannot mandate the establishment of consular relations at a time and place unacceptable to the President," and accordingly stated his determination to construe the provision as merely precatory.
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You see, unlike advisory resolutions, or precatory proposals on the shareholder ballot, this resolution will enact a bylaw (a law of the corporation) and codify "sustainability."
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Whether the 2d Amend's introductory phrase is precatory or limiting, the amendment says that "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
What effect will the Supreme Court's gun case have on the '08 election? Ann Althouse 2007
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