A written confession of judgment; a legal document where a defendant admits the creditor's claim without trial.
From Latin cognovit, meaning 'he acknowledged,' from cognoscere (to know). This is a specialized legal term that entered English from medieval Latin legal documents.
In the Middle Ages, a cognovit let you skip the whole trial thing by just admitting the other person was right—it's basically an ancient legal shortcut that still exists in some places.
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