Contubernium
Defined in 8 dictionaries — Cyclopedic (1922), Ballentine's (1916), Bouvier (1914), Black's (1910), Kinney (1893), Black's (1891), Burrill (1850), Bouvier (1839)
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
In civil law. A marriage between persons of whom one or both were slaves. Poth. Cent. pt. 1, c. 2, § 4. CONTUMACY (Lat. contumacia, disobedience). The refusal or neglect of a party accused to appear or answer to a charge preferred against him in a court of justice. Chiefly used in ecclesiastical courts; "contempt" being used in the civil courts. Actual contumacy is the refusal of a party actually before the court to obey some order of the court. Presumed contumacy is the act of refusing or declining to appear upon being cited. 3 Curt. Ecc. 1.
Ballentine's Law Dictionary
James A. Ballentine · 1916
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia
John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914
In Civil Law. A marriage between two slaves; it was not a legal relation, and the children were not legitimate. Bryce, Studies in Hist, etc., E
Black's Law Dictionary
Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
A Law Dictionary and Glossary
George C. Kinney · 1893
2.
In the Roman law. The marriage of slaves; a permitted cohabitation.
A Dictionary of Law
Henry Campbell Black · 1891
In Roman law. The marriage of slaves; a permitted cohabitation.
A New Law Dictionary and Glossary
Alexander M. Burrill · 1850
Lat.
In the Roman law. The marriage of slaves; a permitted cohabitation. Cooper's Justin, Inst, Notes,* 420. Adam's Rom. Ant. 50.
A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States
John Bouvier · 1839
civ. law, As among the Romans slaves had no civil state, their marriages although valid according to natura] law, when contracted with the consent of their masters, and when there was no legal bar to them, yet such marriages were without civil effects, they having none except what arose from natural law: a marriage of thig kind was called contubernium. It was so called whether both or only one of the parties was a slave. Poth. Contr. de Mariage, prem. part. c. 2, 3. refusal or neglect of a party accused to appear and answer to a charge. preferred against him in a court of justice. This word is derived from the latin contumacta, disobedience. 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 455; Ayl. Parer. 196.