Prior to 1977, it was not considered unusual for Manitoba's provincial premiers to reserve the position of Treasurer or Finance Minister for themselves.

Prior to 1942, automobiles were the individual responsibility of the agency to which assigned.

Prior to the year 1878, all apostolic letters and briefs requiring for their validity the leaden seal were engrossed upon rough parchment and in Gothic characters ( round letters, also called Gallicum and commonly Bollatico, but in Italy today Teutonic ) without lines, or diphthongs, or marks of punctuation.

Prior to major influence from outside, there were approximately 25, 000 Aleuts on the archipelago.

Prior to 2006, off-premises alcohol sales were forbidden until noon on Sundays, and liquor / wine stores were required to be closed the entire day.

Prior to 1991 the law was stricter, when changes more clearly defined which businesses were exempt such as pharmacies, hospitals, and restaurants.

Prior to the Smartmodem, modems were almost entirely manual in operation, having developed from acoustic couplers that used a traditional telephone for dialling and hanging up.

Prior to the bubonic plague epidemic known as the Black Death, Mongol and Turkish armies were reported to have catapulted disease-laden corpses into besieged cities.

Prior movements had all originated in cities which were home to at least two teams.

Prior to 31 December 2010, deposits with building societies of up to £ 50, 000 per individual, per institution, were normally protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme ( FSCS ), but Nationwide and Yorkshire Building Societies negotiated a temporary change to the terms of the FSCS to protect members of the societies they acquired in late 2008 / early 2009.

Prior to 1948, various standards for luminous intensity were in use in a number of countries.

Prior to the development of the pound lock in 984AD in China by Chhaio Wei-Yo and later in Europe in the 15th century, either flash locks consisting of a single gate were used or ramps, sometimes equipped with rollers, were used to change level.

Prior to the internet, virtual communities ( like social or academic organizations ) were far more limited by the constraints of available communication and transportation technologies.

Prior to Kidd returning to New York City, he learned that he was a wanted pirate, and that several English men-of-war were searching for him.

Prior to the end of the slave trade and widespread abolition, when indigenous labour was unavailable, slaves were often imported to the Americas, first by the Spanish Empire, and later by the Dutch, French and British.

Prior to the charter, there were various statutes which protected an assortment of civil rights and obligations, but nothing was enshrined in the constitution until 1982.

Prior to the invention of tension rods drum skins were attached and tuned by rope systems such as that used on the Djembe or pegs and ropes such as that used on Ewe Drums, a system rarely used today, although sometimes seen on regimental marching band snare drums.

Prior to his inauguration, he led a meeting of advisors at Pearl Harbor addressing foremost issues ; agreed objectives were to balance the budget during his term, to bring the Korean War to an end, to defend vital interests at lower cost through nuclear deterrent, and to end price and wage controls.

Prior to the development of DTMF, numbers were dialed on automated telephone systems by means of pulse dialing ( Dial Pulse or DP in the U. S .) or loop disconnect ( LD ) signaling, which functions by rapidly disconnecting and re-connecting the calling party's telephone line, similar to flicking a light switch on and off.

Prior to the early 20th century, all shotgun barrels were forged by heating narrow strips of iron and steel and shaping them around a mandrel.

Prior to the start of the Civil War, Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood declared Davenport to be Iowa's first military headquarters and five camps were set up in the city to aid the Union.

Prior to World War II, destroyers were light vessels with little endurance for unattended ocean operations ; typically a number of destroyers and a single destroyer tender operated together.

Prior to the mid-20th century, double bass strings were usually made of gut, but since that time, steel strings have largely replaced gut strings, because steel strings hold their pitch better and yield more volume when played with the bow.

As time passed, Prior Diego sanctioned the building of a monastery for girls whose parents had sent them to the care of the Albigensians because their families were too poor to fulfill their basic needs.

Prior to 1973, Conservative approaches to change were generally on an individual, case-by-case basis.

Prior to the 1960s and 70s, hospital emergency departments were generally staffed by physicians on staff at the hospital on a rotating basis, among them general surgeons, internists, psychiatrists, and dermatologists.

Prior to roasting in an oven, meat is generally " browned " by brief exposure to high temperature.

Prior to the Warring States Period ( fifth century BC ), only the royal family and the aristocratic elite could generally take surnames.

Prior to the rise of the fast food chain restaurant, people generally had a choice between greasy spoon diners where the quality of the food was often questionable and service lacking, or high-end restaurants that were expensive and impractical for families with children.

Prior to 1940, the Netherlands was a neutral country, generally on good terms with Germany.

Prior to that the concept " generation " had generally referred to family relationships, not broader social groupings.

Prior to World War II, they were generally conservative in social policy, and classically liberal in economic policy.

Prior to the 20th century, it was generally held that the leprechaun wore red, not green.

Prior to the existence of direct broadcast satellite services, home users would generally have a motorised C-band dish of up to 3 metres in diameter for reception of channels from different satellites.

Prior to shedding, they will generally seek out humid microclimates in their habitat.

Prior to the 20 < sup > th </ sup > century, Zhongshan was generally known as Xiangshan or Heung-san (), in reference to the many flowers that grew in the mountains nearby.

Prior to 2009, China generally followed OECD Guidelines.

Prior to the advent of the portable ' mill, small-scale sawmills were generally cobbled-together affairs constructed and operated by ( almost always ) two men with a penchant for tinkering.

Prior to this, the integration between sequencing and synthesis was generally a manual function based on wiring of components in large modular synthesizers, and the storage of notes was simply based on potentiometer settings in an analog sequencer.

Prior to King Philip's War, tensions fluctuated among specific bands and tribes of Native Americans and the colonists, but relations were generally peaceful.

Prior to the wide use of compact discs in computers, floppy disks were used as boot disks, which generally had a small operating system and limited tools.

Prior to the 1997 municipal elections, the regional chairman was elected to the position from within the regional council — in that year, the position became generally elected by all voters in the regional municipality.

Prior to the advent of Chinese civilization and world religions in the region generally known today as East Asia including the territorial boundaries of modern-day China ; tribal totemistic and animistic religious practices were the way in which prayers, sacrifices or offerings were communicated to the spiritual world by groups or mediatory individuals such as shamans.

Prior to this, it had been suggested that European records referred to escapes from captivity, because of their tameness, the distance from the species ' normal breeding range, the suburban habitat of many of the records, and their winter timing ; Hirschfeld presented counter-arguments to all these points, and today it is generally accepted that most if not all Rufous Turtle Doves in Europe are wild birds.

Prior to the middle of the 20th century, sexuality was generally restricted.

Prior to the Texas War of Independence, settlement was generally prohibited by the Spanish and later Mexican governments, but neither government was able to exert control or law enforcement in the area.

Prior to 2005, the SN Comeback Player Award was generally recognized as the principal award of its type, as MLB did not give such an award until that year.

Prior to the mid-17th Century, when pendulum-controlled mechanical clocks were invented, sundials were the only reliable timepieces, and were generally considered to tell the right time.