Attainder - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

at·tain·der

Audio Help [uh-teyn-der] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	the legal consequence of judgment of death or outlawry for treason or felony, involving the loss of all civil rights.

2.	Obsolete. dishonor.

[Origin: 1425–75; late ME, n. use of AF attaindre to convict, OF ataindre to convict, attain

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Attainder

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

at·tain·der Audio Help (ə-tān'dər) Pronunciation Key
n.

In the ancient common law, the state of an offender who had been sentenced for a capital offense.
Obsolete Dishonor.

[Middle English atteindre, act of attainting, from Old French ataindre, to convict, affect, attainder; see attain.]

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
attainder

"extinction of rights of a person sentenced to death or outlaw," 1444, from O.Fr. ataindre "to touch upon, seize, accuse, condemn" (see attain). O.Fr. infinitive used as a noun.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

attainder
noun
cancellation of civil rights

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: at·tain·der
Pronunciation: &-'tAn-d&r
Function: noun
Etymology: Anglo-French atteinder, from ateindre to convict,sentence, literally, to reach, attain, ultimately from Latin attingere to reach, from ad to + tangere to touch
: the termination of the civil rights of a person upon asentence of death or outlawry for treason or a felony —see also bill of attainder at CORRUPTION OF BLOOD">BILL 1, CORRUPTION OF BLOOD
NOTE: In English law up to the nineteenth century, attainder was the harsh consequence ofconviction for treason or a felony. It resulted in the forfeiture of the convicted person's property. It also involved corruption of blood, which barred the person from inheriting, retaining, orpassing title, rank, or property. A person outlawed lost the right to seek protection under the law. Article III, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution prohibits corruption of blood or forfeiture upon aconviction for treason “except during the life of the person attainted,” and Article I, Section 9 prohibits bills of attainder. Attainder was abolished in England in 1870.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Attainder

Act\ ([a^]kt), n. [L. actus, fr. agere to drive, do: cf. F. acte. See Agent.]

1. That which is done or doing; the exercise of power, or the effect, of which power exerted is the cause; a performance; a deed.

That best portion of a good man's life, His little, nameless, unremembered acts Of kindness and of love. --Wordsworth. Hence, in specific uses: (a) The result of public deliberation; the decision or determination of a legislative body, council, court of justice, etc.; a decree, edit, law, judgment, resolve, award; as, an act of Parliament, or of Congress. (b) A formal solemn writing, expressing that something has been done. --Abbott. (c) A performance of part of a play; one of the principal divisions of a play or dramatic work in which a certain definite part of the action is completed. (d) A thesis maintained in public, in some English universities, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student.

2. A state of reality or real existence as opposed to a possibility or possible existence. [Obs.]

The seeds of plants are not at first in act, but in possibility, what they afterward grow to be. --Hooker.

3. Process of doing; action. In act, in the very doing; on the point of (doing). "In act to shoot." --Dryden.

This woman was taken . . . in the very act. --John viii. 4.

Act of attainder. (Law) See Attainder.

Act of bankruptcy (Law), an act of a debtor which renders him liable to be adjudged a bankrupt.

Act of faith. (Ch. Hist.) See Auto-da-F['e].

Act of God (Law), an inevitable accident; such extraordinary interruption of the usual course of events as is not to be looked for in advance, and against which ordinary prudence could not guard.

Act of grace, an expression often used to designate an act declaring pardon or amnesty to numerous offenders, as at the beginning of a new reign.

Act of indemnity, a statute passed for the protection of those who have committed some illegal act subjecting them to penalties. --Abbott.

Act in pais, a thing done out of court (anciently, in the country), and not a matter of record.

Syn: See Action.

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

attainder

attainder: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

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