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Simple English definitions for legal terms
significavit
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A quick definition of significavit:
Significavit: A certificate from a bishop that says someone has been excommunicated for more than 40 days. This certificate is used to notify the Crown in chancery, which can issue a writ de contumace capiendo for the disobedient person's arrest and imprisonment. This writ was used after the Ecclesiastical Courts Act of 1813 removed ecclesiastical courts' power to excommunicate litigants who failed to comply with a court order. The writ de contumace capiendo is a writ that issues out of the Court of Chancery at the request of an ecclesiastical court that has found a person to be in contempt. It is used to arrest a contumacious person who has failed to comply with a court order.
A more thorough explanation:
Definition: Significavit (sig-ni-fi-kay-vit) is a Latin term used in Ecclesiastical law. It refers to a bishop's certificate that confirms a person has been in a state of excommunication for more than 40 days. It can also be a notice to the Crown in chancery, based on the bishop's certificate, whereby a writ de contumace capiendo would issue for the disobedient person's arrest and imprisonment.
- After being excommunicated for more than 40 days, the bishop issued a significavit to confirm the person's status.
- The bishop's significavit was used as evidence to issue a writ de contumace capiendo for the person's arrest and imprisonment.
These examples illustrate how significavit is used in Ecclesiastical law to confirm a person's excommunication status and to issue a writ for their arrest and imprisonment.