break (with) precedent

: to separate into parts with suddenness or violence

: fracture

to fracture a bone of (a bodily part)

: an act or action of breaking

: the opening shot in a game of pool or billiards

: a gap or opening caused or appearing as if caused by damage : a condition produced by or as if by breaking : gap

: prior in time, order, arrangement, or significance

: an earlier occurrence of something similar

: something done or said that may serve as an example or rule to authorize or justify a subsequent act of the same or an analogous kind

: the convention established by such a precedent or by long practice