prior knowledge

(uncountable)Knowledge of a set of circumstances sufficient to make actions based on those circumstances wrongful.

The defendant was convicted because the prosecutor proved the defendant's prior knowledge of the victim's particular vulnerability.

(uncountable)Prior to the inception of an insurance policy, knowledge of specific extant circumstances that could reasonably give rise to a claim under that policy.

All our policies require a declaration of no prior knowledge as a matter of routine.

(uncountable)Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see prior, knowledge.

I had no prior knowledge of linguistics, but that didn't stop me from writing a dictionary.