purgation
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PURGATION. The clearing one's self of an offence charged, by denying the
guilt on oath or affirmation.
2. There were two sorts of purgation, the vulgar, and the canonical.
3. Vulgar purgation consisted in superstitious trials by hot and cold
water, by fire, by hot irons, by batell, by corsned, &c., which modes of
trial were adopted in times of ignorance and barbarity, and were impiously
called judgments of God.
4. Canonical purgation was the act of justifying one's self, when
accused of some offence in the presence of a number of persons, worthy of
credit, generally twelve, who would swear they believed the accused. See
Compurgator; Wager of Law.
5. In modern times, a man may purge himself of an offence, in some
cases where the facts are within his own knowledge; for example, when a man
is charged with a contempt of court, he may purge himself of such contempt,
by swearing that in doing the act charged, he did not intend to commit a
contempt.