cognovit
- noun
- /kɒɡˈnoʊvɪt/
- Archaic
:
cognovit
- The defendant signed a cognovit admitting the plaintiff's claim, allowing the court to issue a judgment without a trial.
- cognovit note
Examples
-
(n95) In D.H. Overmyer Co. v. Frick Co., (n96) the Supreme Court considered whether to enforce a cognovit note, a contractual agreement that went far beyond waiver of notice and a hearing.
Academic text (2007) -
A cognovit note allows the contracting parties to preclude factfinding by agreeing to confession of judgment.
Academic text (2007) -
Professor Stephen Yeazell describes the cognovit note as "the outer limits of the parties' ability to contract out of procedural law." (n104)
Academic text (2007) -
When the Court enforced the cognovit note in Overmyer (n257), it held that the constitutional rights to notice, hearing, and due process may be waived in a predispute contract.
Academic text (2007) -
In his legal brief, he referenced the cognovit to illustrate how the parties had waived their right to contest the matter in court.
-
By agreeing to a cognovit, the defendants made it clear they accepted the obligations set forth by the plaintiff without needing a trial.
Compounds
Surface Forms
Etymology
Cognovit comes from the Latin verb cognoscere, with the root cogn- meaning 'to know'. So a cognovit is basically a written 'I admit' — a defendant's admission that lets the court enter judgment without a trial.
