行为保全是指在民事诉讼的概念中，为避免当事人或者利害关系人的利益受到不应有的损害或进一步的损害，法院得依他们的申请对相关当事人的侵害或有侵害之虞的行为采取强制措施。对行为保全的裁定，不可以上诉，但可以申请复议。这一制度的确立最早可以追溯到古罗马时代。在罗马法中，禁止令状就是早期行为保全制度的体现。禁止令状（Interdicere）是罗马执政官根据受害人的请求而发布的禁止从事某项行为的命令，通常所涉及的利益具有准公益性。

行为保全中的“保全”与从“财产保全”中的“保全”一样，都可以用preservation一词来表示，其英文释义如下：

Behavior preservation refers to an order in which the court orders the parties to make certain actions or prohibit them from making certain actions before the final judgment is made. China's behavior preservation system draws on the Interim injunction of common law system as well as einst weiliger Rechtsschutz of continental law system, and was originally applied to maritime special procedures and intellectual property field. The Civil Procedure Law, amended in 2012, has unified the behavioral injunction system and extends the scope of behavior preservation to the entire civil litigation field.

而诉前则比较简单，即pre-litigation。因此，诉前行为保全即pre-litigation behavior preservation。

法院决定是否采取诉前行为保全，主要根据三个方面的因素决定：

1. 申请人是否是权利人或利害关系人

2. 是否具有紧迫性，以及不立即采取措施是否可能使申请人的合法权益受到难以弥补的损害

3. 申请人是否提供了相应的担保（如果申请错误，申请人是否有能力赔偿）。

有关诉前行为保全的法条和双语示例如下：

《最高人民法院关于审查知识产权纠纷行为保全案件适用法律若干问题的规定》 

第三条申请诉前行为保全，应当向被申请人住所地具有相应知识产权纠纷管辖权的人民法院或者对案件具有管辖权的人民法院提出。

Article 3 The application for pre-litigation behavior preservation shall be submitted to the People's Court of the respondent's domicile with jurisdiction over the corresponding intellectual property dispute or the People's Court having jurisdiction over the case.

Third parties associated with prospective litigants—such as employers, parent companies and affiliates—are also at risk when they receive pre-litigation behavior preservation demands, which are sometimes extensive.

与潜在诉讼人有关联的第三方——如雇主、母公司和附属公司——在收到诉讼前行为保全要求时也会面临风险，这些要求有时很广泛。