appellancy

Noun

appellancy (uncountable)

1. Capability of appeal.
   • Indeed, the faculty seems to have acquired something of a reputation for supporting appellancy.2013, E. C. Spary, Eating the Enlightenment, page 36
   • . At this point Jansenism truly becomes synonymous with a political “movement,” and “appellancy” becomes a new form of politics, not theology, whose actual core is ambiguous apart from its notable destabilizing character.2016, Ulrich L. Lehner, Richard A. Muller, A.G. Roeber, The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Theology, 1600-1800
2. A form of plea bargain in which someone is granted immunity or a reduced sentence in return for providing testimony to convict their accomplices.
   • As Paul Strohm argues, the absence of evidence to suggest that Usk was formally charged with any crime at this juncture indicates a creative use of the concept of appellancy, which typically enabled felons to mitigate their punishment through confession and the provision of testimony contributing...2016, Elizabeth Elliott ·, Remembering Boethius