Priority

priority

A particular order, or sequence, in which things take place (items processed, users served, etc.). A priority is based on a predetermined assignment of value, or importance, to different types of events and people.

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Priority 

(1) Being first in time to perform some action.

(2) A concept of priority fundamental for scientific discoveries, inventions, and industrial designs. The onset of author’s rights is set by the date of priority. In the USSR the priority of a discovery is established either on the basis of the date a particular thesis was first formulated as a discovery or on the date the thesis was published or made known to third persons by some other means.

In most countries the priority of an invention or industrial design is determined by the date of submission by the author or office of a special application to the patent department, or in the USSR, to the State Committee on Inventions and Discoveries of the Council of Ministers.

(3) The primary and predominant significance of a particular normative act. For example, in the USSR the priority of national law over republic law is a constitutional principle. According to this principle, where the law of the USSR and of individual republics differs the law of the USSR takes precedence.