The Collaborative International Dictionary
Compurgator \Com"pur*ga`tor\, n. [LL.] One who bears testimony or swears to the veracity or innocence of another. See Purgation; also Wager of law, under Wager.
All they who know me . . . will say they have reason in
this matter to be my compurgators.
--Chillingworth.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context now historical legal English) A character witness in canon law who swore an oath that the accused was innocent. 2 (context historical legal English) An ‘oath-helper’ in Anglo-Saxon or Germanic law who testified to the character of an accused person. 3 More generally, someone who vouches for another person's innocence, trustworthiness etc.
Usage examples of "compurgator".
The faith of the compurgator was measured by his landed property, and the value of the joint-oath which was required depended on a most intricate and baffling set of arithmetical calculations, and differed according to the kind of crime, the rank of the criminal, and the amount of property which was in dispute, besides other differences dependent on local customs.
My neighbors, as my compurgators, could aver that fact, because they see my occupations and my attachment to them.
But if he wishes to conduct it himself, let him command her to find ten or twenty compurgators of her own class, and proceed in accordance with the second method of sentencing such: except that, if she has to be excommunicated, then he must have recourse to the Ordinary.
According to the weight of the charge, this legal number of compurgators was multiplied.
According to the weight of the charge, this legal number of compurgators was multiplied.