compurgation
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of compurgation
1650–60; < Medieval Latin compurgātiōn- (stem of compurgātiō ), equivalent to com- com- + purgāt ( us ) (past participle of purgāre to purge ) + -iōn- -ion
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This form gradually fell into disuse before the more rational form of compurgation introduced into Teutonic courts in the fifth century.
From Prize Orations of the Intercollegiate Peace Association by Stephen Francis Weston
It resembled neither the Roman trial, where the judges made the decision, nor the mediæval compurgation and ordeals, where God was supposed to pronounce the verdict.
From An Introduction to the History of Western Europe by James Harvey Robinson
Proof was by compurgation, the ordeal having been abolished by the Church.
From Our Legal Heritage by S. A. Reilly
But experience having shown that this method of trial was tumultuary and uncertain, they corrected it by the idea of compurgation.
From The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 07 (of 12) by Edmund Burke
They also introduced a barbarous system of trial, that by compurgation, i.e. exculpation by the oath of the defendant supported by a certain number of cojurantes, and that by ordeal, later called judicium Dei.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 8 "France" to "Francis Joseph I." by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
