Legal Definitions - successive

Successive describes things, people, or events that follow one after another in an uninterrupted sequence or order. It implies a continuous progression without a break in between.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a company's CEO who serves three successive five-year terms. This means the CEO held the position for 15 continuous years, completing one five-year term immediately followed by another, and then a third, without any interim period or other person holding the role in between.

• A landlord might issue successive one-year leases to the same tenant. This indicates that as soon as one lease agreement expires, a new one immediately begins, allowing the tenant to continue renting the property without any gap in their occupancy or legal agreement.

• In a complex legal case, a court might issue a series of successive orders, each building upon the previous one. For instance, an initial order might compel the production of documents, followed by another order scheduling depositions, and then a third order setting a trial date, all occurring in a continuous, sequential flow to move the case forward.