Legal Definitions - emendation

Emendation refers to the act of making a correction or revision, most commonly applied to a written text to improve its accuracy or quality. Historically, in a legal context, it also referred to the act of correcting an error or wrongdoing, often through a form of atonement, such as a payment made to compensate for a criminal offense.

• Example 1 (Textual Correction): A government agency publishes a new set of environmental regulations online. After public review, several minor inconsistencies and typographical errors are identified in the initial draft. The agency then issues a revised version, clearly marking the sections where these corrections have been made.

  This illustrates emendation as the process of correcting and revising a written document (the regulations) to ensure its precision and clarity before final implementation.

• Example 2 (Historical Atonement): In a historical legal system, if a person accidentally caused damage to another's property, such as breaking a fence, the community's custom might require the offender to pay a specific sum of money or provide labor to repair the damage directly to the injured party.

  Here, emendation refers to the act of making amends or atoning for the wrongdoing through compensation, which was a common way to resolve disputes and correct offenses in earlier legal traditions.