Sentence:  Middletown bases its claim on the general provision of the law that `` all rateable property , both tangible and intangible , shall be taxed to the owner thereof in the town in which such owner shall have had his actual place of abode for the larger portion of the twelve ( 12 ) months next <WSD>preceding</WSD> the first day of April in each year '' . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  be earlier in time; go back further