Preëmptive

The object of this company in taking their conveyance from the Indians in the form of a lease was to evade the preëmptive right.

2002, The New Yorker Online Only, Conversation: The Next War, at this site Once the doctrine of preëmptive war is out there, then, first India, clearly, but many other people, could say that this is ideal, thank you. All these conditions are met.

But this fails to meet the objection that if a considerable number of shareholders were thus compelled to go into the public market to buy enough shares to maintain their proportionate interest, they would probably have to pay an excessive price — a price at all events greater than would attach to the exercise of their preëmptive right.