[a. F. contravention (also contre- in Cotgr.), on L. type *contrāventiōn-em, n. of action f. contrāvenīre to CONTRAVENE.]
The action of contravening or going counter to; violation, infringement, transgression.
1579. Fenton, Guicciard., XVI. (1599), 776. The Pope should be bound to … forgiue him the penaltie of contrauention.
1637–50. Row, Hist. Kirk (1842), 546. Saul did not personallie sweare to the Gibeonites, yet his contravention … plagued his subjects with three years famine.
a. 1704. Locke, On Rom. viii. 7. A settled contravention to his precepts cannot be suffered by the … governor of the world.
1708. Swift, Abol. Chr., Wks. 1755, II. I. 91. Contraventions to the laws of the land.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge (1849), 122/2. Offensive and undutiful, and in direct contravention of the church catechism.
1861. Stanley, East. Ch., viii. (1869), 267. From the contravention of the chronological order.
b. Sc. Law. (See quot.)
1861. W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., Contravention … is most frequently applied to an act done by an heir of entail in opposition to the provisions of the deed … or to acts of molestation or outrage committed by a person in violation of lawborrows.
