Contumacy

[T]heſe Muſhrome Lords (Spirituall onely in Title, but wholly Temporall in reality), firſt ſprouted up by inſenſible degrees in the Church of Christ; ſo it is moſt infallibly convinced of notorious falſehood, by the multitude of thoſe moſt execrable Treaſons, Treacheries, Conſpiracies, Rebellions, Contumacies, Inſurrections, Seditions, and Anti-Monarchiall practiſes of Lordly Prelates, againſt their Soveraignes, in all ages ſince they grew rich and potent, in all Kingdomes and Churches where they have been admitted; […]

Persons Judicially cited, are ſometimes wont, by a Non-Appearance in Court, to contemn the Judges Authority; and thereby to render themſelves contumacious: wherefore, I will conſider theſe Perſons under the following heads. […] 2dly, Examine how many Species or Kinds of Contumacy there are. […] The Plaintiff on the Return of a Peremptory Citation ought not to accuſe the Contumacy of the Perſon ſummon'd, otherwiſe he ſhall not be adjudged contumacious.

When an accused person, or a witness, refuses to obey a citation, he shall be cited a second time; and if he still continue to refuse, he shall be excluded from the communion of the church for contumacy, until he repent.

I know how distasteful to God, contumacy, and contempt, and disobedience to order and authority is; and I know, (and all men, that choose not ignorance, may know) that our excommunications (though calumniators impute them to small things, because, many times, the first complaint is of some small matter) never issue but upon contumacies, contempts, disobediences to the church. But they are real contumacies, not interpretative, apparent contumacies, not presumptive, that excommunicate a man in heaven; and much circumspection is required, and (I am far from doubting it) exercised in those cases upon earth; […]

The old law came to recognize a procedure of contumacy, which constitutes a point of departure for our legal system so far as that relates to the doctrine of default, although the procedure has completely changed its aspect in the course of its successive transformations. […] As in the Germanic practice, the procedure by contumacy resulted, not in a condemnation for the act struck at by the prosecution, but in the outlawry of the person guilty of contumacy. Every safeguard given by the law was withdrawn from the person who refused to submit to the law.

Contumacy · Generally speaking, contumacy is the deliberate disregard for legitimate authority. In canon law, contumacy is discussed in two matters. First, a party to an ecclesiastical case or controversy, though usually the respondent, who willfully and without reason refuses to appear before an ecclesiastical court, or who otherwise withholds necessary cooperation from the court, can be declared absent, that is, contumacious, and thereupon forfeits all or some of his or her rights before the tribunal[…]. The second and rather more common use of contumacy occurs in the matter of ecclesiastical penalties. In this sense, one who, after a warning, refuses to desist from delictual behaviour is considered contumacious, and thereby renders himself liable to censure[…].