[a. Fr. amnestie (16th c. in Litt.), or ad. its original, L. amnēstia, a. Gr. ἀμνηστία oblivion, f. ἄμνηστος not remembering. Used occas. in 16–17th c. in L. and Gr. form.]
1. Forgetfulness, oblivion; an intentional overlooking.
1592. Sir T. Smith, in T. Wright, Q. Eliz. Orig. Lett. (1838), I. 456. To treade all underfoote that hath gone heretofore, with a perpetuall ἀμνηστία, and to begyn a new lyfe.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. xxiii. § 6 (1873), 223. Reconcilement is better managed by an amnesty, and passing over that which is past.
1624. Sanderson, Serm., Ad. Pop. v. (1674), 242. Quite forgotten, and buried in a perpetual Amnesty.
1647. Howell, Lett., III. vi. I did not think Suffolk waters had such a lethæan quality in them, as to cause such an amnestia in him of his friends.
1724. Watts, Logic, I. iv. § 2 (1822), 60. Amnesty, an unremembrance.
1880. R. St. John Tyrwhitt, in Contemp. Rev., XXXVII. 474. By mutual amnesty men avoid seeing the real drift of each other’s statements.
2. An act of oblivion, a general overlooking or pardon of past offences, by the ruling authority.
1580. North, Plutarch (1676), 1020. A law that no man should be called in question nor troubled for things that were past … called Amnestia, or law of Oblivion.
1693. Mem. Count Teckely, II. 105. He should grant them in due form an Amnesty for all that was pass’d.
1782. Burke, Penal Laws agst. Irish Cath., Wks. VI. 274. An act of amnesty and indulgence.
1787. Madison, in Sparks’ Corr. Am. Rev. (1853), IV. 167. The insurgents decline accepting the terms annexed to the amnesty.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 174. An amnesty was granted, with few exceptions, to all who, during the late troubles, had been guilty of political offences.
