'The Petition of Right' definitions:
Definition of 'The Petition of Right'
From: GCIDE
- Petition \Pe*ti"tion\, n. [F. p['e]tition, L. petitio, fr. petere, petitum, to beg, ask, seek; perh. akin to E. feather, or find.]
- 1. A prayer; a supplication; an imploration; an entreaty; especially, a request of a solemn or formal kind; a prayer to the Supreme Being, or to a person of superior power, rank, or authority; also, a single clause in such a prayer. [1913 Webster]
- A house of prayer and petition for thy people. --1 Macc. vii. 37. [1913 Webster]
- This last petition heard of all her prayer. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
- 2. A formal written request addressed to an official person, or to an organized body, having power to grant it. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Specifically: (Law), A request to government, in either of its branches, for the granting of a particular grace or right, or for the legislature to take a specific action; -- in distinction from a memorial, which calls certain facts to mind. The petition may be signed by one or any number of persons. [1913 Webster + PJC]
- 4. The written document containing a petition (senses 1 or 2). [1913 Webster]
- Petition of right (Law), a petition to obtain possession or restitution of property, either real or personal, from the Crown, which suggests such a title as controverts the title of the Crown, grounded on facts disclosed in the petition itself. --Mozley & W.
- The Petition of Right (Eng. Hist.), the parliamentary declaration of the rights of the people, assented to by Charles I. [1913 Webster]