Avow
Black's Law Dictionary · Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
Black's Law Dictionary
In pleading. To acknowledge and justify an act done. To make an avowry. For example, when replevin ls brought for a thing distrained, and the party taking claims that he had a right to make the distress, he is said to avow.
Newell Mill Co., v. Muxlow, 115 N. Y. 170, 21 N. E. 1048.