Historical Meanings
In earlier time, "pre-emption right" has had a separate and distinct meaning to that given to it today.
Under international law, the right of preemption formerly referred to the right of a nation to detain merchandise passing through its territories or seas, in order to afford to its subjects the preference of purchase. This form of right was sometimes regulated by treaty. A treaty between the United States and Great Britain in 1794 agreed that:
whereas the difficulty of agreeing on precise cases in which alone provisions and other articles not generally contraband may be regarded as such, renders it expedient to provide against the inconveniences and misunderstandings which might thence arise. It is further agreed that whenever any such articles so being contraband according to the existing laws of nations, shall for that reason be seized, the same shall not be confiscated, but the owners thereof shall be speedily and completely indemnified; and the captors, or in their default-the government under whose authority they act, shall pay to the masters or owners of such vessel the full value of all articles, with a reasonable mercantile profit thereon, together with the freight, and also the damages incident to such detention.In the United States in the eighteenth century, when an individual bought the preemption right to land, he did not buy the land. He was only buying the right to buy the land. In the case of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, the syndicate paid Massachusetts USD$1,000,000 for the pre-emptive rights, and then paid the Indians, who thought they owned the land, $5,000 cash and an annual $500 annuity forever for their title to the land.
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