abjure v : formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure; "He retracted his earlier statements about his religion"; "She abjured her beliefs" [syn: recant, forswear, retract, resile]

Abjure \Ab*jure"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abjured; p. pr. & vb. n. Abjuring.] [L. abjurare to deny upon oath; ab + jurare to swear, fr. jus, juris, right, law; cf. F. abjurer. See Jury.]
1. To renounce upon oath; to forswear; to disavow; as, to abjure allegiance to a prince. To abjure the realm, is to swear to abandon it forever.
2. To renounce or reject with solemnity; to recant; to abandon forever; to reject; repudiate; as, to abjure errors. ``Magic I here abjure.'' --Shak. Syn: See Renounce.

Abjure \Ab*jure"\, v. i. To renounce on oath. --Bp. Burnet.

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Abjuration is the solemn repudiation, abandonment, or renunciation by or upon oath, often the renunciation of citizenship or some other right or privilege. (It comes from the Latin abjurare, "to forswear").

Abjuration of the realm was a type of abjuration in ancient English law. The person taking the oath swore to leave the country directly and promptly never to return to the kingdom unless by permission of the sovereign. This was often taken by fugitives who had taken sanctuary:

I swear on the Holy Book that I will leave the realm of England and never return without the express permission of my Lord the King or his heirs. I will hasten by the direct road to the port allotted to me and not leave the King's highway under pain of arrest or execution. I will not stay at one place more than one night and will seek diligently for a passage across the sea as soon as I arrive, delaying only one tide if possible. If I cannot secure such passage, I will walk into the sea up to my knees every day as a token of my desire to cross. And if I fail in all this, then peril shall be my lot.

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