Definition of "gravamen"
gravamen
noun
plural gravamens or gravamina
Quotations
They have brought in two Papers, they ſay, in the nature of a Gravamen. I take it to be a Gravamen, and of ill conſequence for the time to come, when we have liberty to give in Reaſons to the Houſes, that they ſhould in writing give in Gravamen's to us.
1645, Cornelius Burges, prolocutor pro tempore, The Ansvver of the Assembly of Divines by Authority of Parliament Now Sitting at Westminster. Unto the Reasons Given in to This Assembly by the Dissenting Brethren, of Their Now Bringing in a Model of Their Way. […], London: […] John Field for Ralph Smith, […], page 8
Let there be a tranſpoſition of the words, mercy for truth, in theſe two gravamens, and then ſee whether the ſubject matter be not the very ſame. I muſt therefore deſire the Reader to receive ſatisfaction unto this, from that before written, which howſoever calculated for the meridian of mercy, yet may generally ſerve as an Antidote againſt all his Gravamens.
1658, James Rawson, Gerizim, Election, and Ebal, Reprobation. Or The Absolute Good Pleasure of Gods Most Holy Will to All the Sons of Adam Specificated, […], London: […] Iohn Owsley, for Henry Shephard, […], page 97
After dinner ſome viſitors came in, and among the reſt two or three lawyers, whom I had ſeen in Guſtrow, and who were like to ſpoil our mirth by introducing their jejune talk of gravamina and appeals. One of them could tell twenty, another thirty, another forty, gravamina on the ſide of the burghers of the province.
1766 October 4, Thomas Nugent, “Letter X”, in Travels through Germany. […], volume I, London: […] Edward and Charles Dilly, […], published 1768, page 308
Complaints about the burdens of keeping the lord's hunting dogs are found in several lists of gravamens preceding the Peasants' War, and in the Tyrol "There were special levies [on tenant farmers] for the dogs … of the landlord."
1997, Stephen L. Wailes, “Der Reich mann vnd Lazarus, Copied by Vigil Raber in 1539”, in The Rich Man and Lazarus on the Reformation Stage: A Contribution to the Social History of German Drama, Selinsgrove, Pa.: Susquehanna University Press; Cranbury, N.J.; London: Associated University Presses, page 62
In 1239, the bishops presented gravamina to the papal legate detailing 'prejudices of ecclesiastical liberty by the lord king and his bailiffs'.
2013, Joseph Creamer, “St Edmund of Canterbury and Henry III in the Shadow of Thomas Becket”, in Janet Burton, Phillipp Schofield, Björn Weiler, editors, Thirteenth Century England XIV: Proceedings of the Aberystwyth and Lampeter Conference, 2011, Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, Boydell & Brewer, page 137
(Anglicanism) A document sent by the Lower House of Convocation to the Upper House to inform the latter of certain grievances in the church.
Quotations
In the mean while, it was reſolved at the Synod, that ſince they muſt wait for the cited Remonſtrants, they would enter upon ſome of the Gravamina, or Points of Grievance which the Churches had laid before the Provincial Synods.
1722, Gerard Brandt, “Book XXXIII”, in [anonymous], transl., The History of the Reformation and Other Ecclesiastical Transactions in and about the Low-countries, from the Beginning of the Eighth Century, down to the Famous Synod of Dort, inclusive. […], volume III, London: […] T[homas] Wood, for John Nicks, […], page 24
Sometimes also committees were appointed to hear the complaints of clergymen and form "gravamina" upon the evidence produced. And "gravamina" of such a formal and authoritative character, if emanating from the lower house, were usually presented by the prolocutor.
1855, James Wayland Joyce, “English Synods. From the Accession of Archbishop John de Peccham to the Death of Archbishop John Morton, A.D. 1279–1500.”, in England’s Sacred Synods. A Constitutional History of the Convocations of the Clergy, from the Earliest Records of Christianity in Britain to the Date of the Promulgation of the Present Book of Common Prayer: […], London: Rivingtons, […], page 316
The essence or ground of a complaint.
Quotations
[P]roperly, no evidence can be read here that was not read below, and if evidence, which ought to have been read there, was rejected, that ought to be the gravamen of the appeal.
1788 April 19, Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron Thurlow, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, “Cox against Peele”, in The English Reports, volume XXIX (Chancery, volume IX), Edinburgh: William Green & Sons; London: Stevens & Sons, published 1903, page 187
A count is sometimes considered as synonymous with a declaration, and this was its original signification in the law-French; but it is now most generally considered as a part of a declaration, wherein the plaintiff sets forth a distinct cause of action; and it frequently contains several counts, in which the plaintiff assigns different gravamens, so that if he fail in the proof of any, and substantiate one only, he may still recover; […]
1809 February, Clinton (senator), “James Cheetham, plaintiff in error, against Thomas Tillotson, defendant in error”, in William Johnson, editor, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature, and in the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors, in the State of New-York, 3rd edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: E. F. Backus, published 1839, pages 311–312
Falsehood, which was in ordinary cases the gravamen of the complaint, was omitted altogether in the information against him.
1822, “Abstracts of State Trials. The Trial of Henry Hunt, Esq. [et al.], for an Alleged Conspiracy to Overturn the Government, &c. by Threats and Force of Arms.—Before Mr. Justice Bayley, and a Special Jury, at the York Lent Assizes, 1820 [account of the sedition trial following the Peterloo Massacre].”, in The Annual Register, or A View of the History, Politics, and Literature, of the Year 1820, part II, London: […] Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy; [et al.], pages 902–903
The gravamen of Count One was that the defendants had conspired to commit crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. […] The gravamen of Count Two was that they had planned, prepared, initiated, waged—or conspired to plan, prepare, initiate or wage—an aggressive war.
1995 November 18, Mark S. Martins, “War Crimes during Operations Other than War: Military Doctrine and Law Fifty Years after Nuremberg—and beyond”, in John B. Jones, Jr., editor, Military Law Review (Department of Army Pamphlet; 27-100-149), volume 149, Charlottesville, Va.: The Judge Advocate General’s School, United States Army, published summer 1995, footnote 30, page 151
Due to the formalistic nature of the distinction between ‘elements’ and ‘defences’ the case often use the term ‘gravamen’ to signify the core of an offence. […] However, it is not always clear what is meant by ‘gravamen’. Two alternatives present themselves. Gravamen might mean the part of the offence which makes the conduct wrongful and therefore suitable for criminal sanctions. Alternatively, it might mean the conduct which the offence is intended to control; that is, the gravamen of the offence depends upon its purpose.
2010, Andrew Stumer, “Scope of the Presumption”, in The Presumption of Innocence: Evidential and Human Rights Perspectives, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Portland, Or.: Hart Publishing, page 77
(by extension) The essence or most important aspect of a piece of writing, a point of argument, etc.; the gist.
Quotations
That neither Dr. Leask, nor myself, acted on such a principle, is the whole gravamen of our opponent's furious assaults upon us.
1869 September 1, “The Glory of Christ in the Creation and Reconciliation of All Things. With Special Reference to the Doctrine of Eternal Evil. A Course of Sermons Preached at Eaton Chapel, Eaton Square, London. By Samuel Minton, […]. Second Edition. London: Longman, Green & Co. [book review]”, in William Leask, editor, The Rainbow: A Magazine of Christian Literature, with Special Reference to the Revealed Future of the Church and the World, volume VI, number 69, London: W. Kent & Co., […], page 432, column 1
Prescription drug suppliers are more likely to add even unverified reports that stand as aberrations in pharmacoepidemiologic studies when they associate a use of the product with an appreciable gravamen of injury.
1989, Sidney H. Willig, “Impact of Drug Products Liability on Needs for Pharmacoepidemiologic Studies and Expertise”, in Stanley A. Edlavitch, editor, Pharmacoepidemiology, volume I, Chelsea, Mich.: Lewis Publishers, section 2 (Drug Epidemiology and the Law), pages 62–63
The grit of your argument—gravamen; I haven't used that in a long time since I practiced—the gravamen of your argument is that availability is the test, the key. […] Tell me where is the gravamen of your argument?
1990 April 26, Lawrence J[ack] Smith, Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1989: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session on H.R. 993: Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1989 […] (Serial No. 93), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, page 25
The gravamen of this essay is that these signifiers (the jargon of SF [science fiction]) function not merely as a set of isolated signs but as descriptions of a stock set of prototype worlds which they logically and conventionally imply, and which permit writers to specify mainly what (if anything) is unique about their world vision rather than what is shared with the rest of SF.
2002 July 31, Eric S[teven] Raymond, “SF Words and Prototype Worlds”, in SF Words, archived from the original on 7 May 2021
(obsolete) A formal charge or complaint.
Quotations
In the ſaid conference, the ſaid lords communicated unto us further, that ſince the departure of the laſt poſt there hath declared to the reſident of Sweden, beſides the gravamina about ſome unequitableneſs and injuries committed concerning the tolls and paſſage of the Sound, that reparation and ſatisfaction muſt be made to the king and crown of Denmark in this treaty to be made with Sweden, […]
1657 April 25, “The Dutch Embassadors in Denmarke to Ruysch”, in Thomas Birch, editor, A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, Esq; Secretary, First, to the Council of State, and afterwards to the Two Protectors, Oliver and Richard Cromwell. […], volume VI (Containing Papers from the Year MDCLVII to MDCLVIII), London: […] [F]or the executor of the late Mr. Fletcher Gyles; Thomas Woodward, […]; and Charles Davis, […], published 1742, pages 169–170
[W]hen certain intereſt of a few great perſons were complied with, and ſeveral too juſtly complained of Gravamina from the Roman Court remedied, there might be a poſſibility of cloſing again with that Church which they then only ſo far deſerted.
1662, “a Catholick gentleman” [pseudonym; Serenus de Cressy], “That Mr. [Edward] Bagshaw’s Instilling Suspicions into the Peoples Minds, as if English Divines, &c. Had a Designe to Introduce Popery again, is a Mere Acting over the Late Rebellion”, in A Non Est Inventus Return’d to Mr. Edward Bagshaw’s Enquiry, and Vainly Boasted Discovery of Weakness in the Grounds of the Churches Infallibility. […], [London?: s.n.], page 31
In an Appeal, whether from a Gravamen or the Sentence, an Inhibition is iſſued from the Superior Court to the Inferior, to ſtop Proceedings.
1779, Samuel Hallifax, “Of the Course of Proceeding in the Ecclesiastical Courts, and Courts of the Two Universities, in England”, in An Analysis of the Roman Civil Law; in which a Comparison is, Occasionally, Made between the Roman Laws and Those of England: […], 3rd edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] J. Archdeacon printer to the University [of Cambridge]; and sold by T. & J. Merrill, […]; B[enjamin] White, T[homas] Cadell, and J. Wilkie, […], paragraph 35, page 126
The court was unanimouſly of opinion, that Mr. Frend ſhould now proceed to the gravamina. And Mr. Frend did proceed to the gravamina accordingly; in the courſe of which he read to the court a paper, which, he alledged, he had been prevented by the vice-chanceller from reading in the court below, before ſentence was pronounced upon him.
1793, “Proceedings in the Court of Delegates”, in An Account of the Proceedings in the University of Cambridge, against William Frend, […], for Publishing a Pamphlet, Intitled Peace and Union, &c. […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] B[enjamin] Flower, and sold by W. H. Lunn, and W. Page, […], page 213