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definitions

cognovit

[kog-noh-vit]
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noun

Law. an acknowledgment or confession by a defendant that the plaintiff's cause, or part of it, is just, wherefore the defendant, to save expense, permits judgment to be entered without trial.

Origin of cognovit

1755–65; < Latin: 3rd person singular perfect of cognōscere to recognize; see cognizance
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cognovit

Historical Examples of cognovit

  • “The wording of the cognovit”—one could speculate on that without seeing it.

    Bardell v. Pickwick

    Percy Fitzgerald

  • His great charge was that they had got a cognovit, or undertaking to pay their costs out of Mrs. Bardell—their own client!

    Bardell v. Pickwick

    Percy Fitzgerald

  • The matter, as we know, was compromised with Dodson and Fogg, so there was no need to scrutinize the Cognovit.

    Bardell v. Pickwick

    Percy Fitzgerald

  • Now to the superficial this seemed to be evaded by the art of the firm in “getting the cognovit out of her.”

    Bardell v. Pickwick

    Percy Fitzgerald

  • Dodson and Fogg,” replied the man; “execution on cognovit for costs.