Meaning & use
approvement
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In old English law, a criminal's confession of guilt paired with informing on accomplices, made in hope of a pardon.
See it in a sentence
Under old English law, approvement could spare a confessed thief from execution if he named his accomplices.
The court record noted the prisoner's approvement, listing three other men involved in the theft.
A note on using this word
Now obsolete in ordinary use, the word survives mainly in historical legal texts and also once referred to the enclosure or improvement of common land.
Another way to use it
2. noun
The enclosure or improvement of common or waste land by a landholder.
The lord claimed a right of approvement over the unused common land.
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