Predecessor
Black's Law Dictionary · Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
Black's Law Dictionary
One who goes or has gone before; the correlative of "successor." Applied to a body politic or corporate, in the same sense as "ancestor" is applied to a natural person.
Lorillard Co. v. Peper (C. C.) 65 Fed. 598.
In Scotch law
An ancestor.
1 Kames Eq. 37L