Definition of "preconstitutional" []

• Before the adoption of the constitution, especially the U.S. Constitution. (adjective)
• Born before the adoption of the constitution, especially the U.S. Constitution. (adjective)

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• "The justices themselves have unanimously confessed that “the substantive content of the clause is suggested neither by its language nor by preconstitutional history.”"
• "His thinking was preconstitutional, appealing to common law, the law of nations, and the law of nature."
• "Douglas, says Dworkin, was a man who sensed in his gut the existence of fundamental moral rights of a preconstitutional or ultra-constitutional nature, but for that very reason felt trapped by the traditional realist view that labeled such feelings as but a judge's personal predilections."