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.
The assize ultimately evolved into the jury of verdict, which replaced ordeal, compurgation, and battle as the method of finding the truth.
From Our Legal Heritage by Reilly, S. A.
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 Burke, Edmund
The form of the oath which she was to swear was then communicated to her and the day for the compurgation fixed.
From Grettir the Strong, Icelandic Saga by Unknown
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
With this assize too a practice which had prevailed from the earliest English times, the practice of "compurgation," passed away.
From History of the English People, Volume I Early England, 449-1071; Foreign Kings, 1071-1204; The Charter, 1204-1216 by Green, John Richard
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.
