Definition of Contumacy | OpenJurist

Definitions from Black's Law Dictionary: 2nd Edition and Ballentine's Law Dictionary as are available for each term in each dictionary.

Contumacy

Ballentine's Law Dictionary

Definition:
Contemptuous disobedience of a judicial order.
Contumacy

Black's Law Dictionary: 2nd Edition

Definition:
The refusal or intentional omission of a person who has bcen duly cited before a court to appear and defend the charge laid against him, or, if he is duly before the court, to obey some lawful order or direction made in the cause. In the former case it is called "presumed" contumacy; in the latter, "actual." The term is chiefly used in ecclesiastical law. See 3 Curt. Eco 1.