Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In early English law, a person, usually a kinsman or a fellow-member in a guild, called in defense of a person on trial.
  • noun The compurgators acted in the character rather of jurymen than of witnesses, for they swore to their belief, not to what they knew; that is, the accused making oath of his innocence, they swore that they believed he was speaking the truth. The number of compurgators required by law was regularly twelve.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who bears testimony or swears to the veracity or innocence of another. See purgation; also Wager of law, under wager.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete, law A person who swears an oath that another person is innocent

Etymologies

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