The act of confirming and adopting a previous act or agreement that was initially invalid or unauthorized. It gives retroactive validity to actions that couldn't be legally binding when first performed.
From Latin 'ratificare' meaning 'to confirm' or 'make valid,' combining 'ratus' (fixed, established) and 'facere' (to make). Medieval canon law used this concept to validate initially defective ecclesiastical acts.
Ratification is like legal time travel—it reaches back and makes something that was invalid when it happened suddenly become valid from the very beginning, as if it had been properly authorized all along!
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