Category:Contumacy

Con"tu*ma*cy, n.; pl. Contumacies. Etym: [L. contumacia, fr. contumax, -acis, insolent; prob. akin to contemnere to despise: cf. F. contumace. Cf. Contemn.]

1. Stubborn perverseness; pertinacious resistance to authority. The bishop commanded him. . . to be thrust into the stocks for his manifest and manifold contumacy. Strype.

2. (Law)

Defn: A willful contempt of, and disobedience to, any lawful summons, or to the rules and orders of court, as a refusal to appear in court when legally summoned.

Syn. -- Stubbornness; perverseness; obstinacy.