DCHP-1 Online
pre-emption † Hist. 
1 n. the right to purchase public land under stipulated conditions and on the basis of a prior claim, such as established settlement or the ownership and improvement of adjacent land.
- 1827 The first hundred purchasers of Town Lots, when they have erected a habitable house, will, at any time within twelve months from the date of their purchase be entitled to the pre-emption or privilege to purchase a Lot of Twenty-Five Acres, in the immediate vicinity of the Town, at the low rate of 7s 6d. per acre.
- 1933 Some of the land had already been pre-empted, and pre-emption amounted to an agreement by the government to sell the land to the pre-empter
2 n. (a piece of) land available for or acquired by purchase under such a right.
- 1871 Pre-emptions are being recorded daily, showing that the influx of new settlers is rapidly on the increase.
- 1881 Pre-emptions outside of the Canadian Pacific Railway belt shall be sold at the uniform price of two dollars per acre, to be paid in one sum at the end of three years from the date of entry.
- 1911 About two miles from Poplar Grove was the preemption of Mr. Guy Pierce, another Englishman, but one who belonged to that class rather contemptuously regarded by their neighbors as remittance men."
- 1963 Topping . . . pre-empted a townsite on Trail Creek with the help of a partner called Hanna. From his pre-emption grew the city of Trail.
- 1827 The first hundred purchasers of Town Lots, when they have erected a habitable house, will, at any time within twelve months from the date of their purchase be entitled to the pre-emption or privilege to purchase a Lot of Twenty-Five Acres, in the immediate vicinity of the Town, at the low rate of 7s 6d. per acre.