[f. prec. vb.: see -ATION.] The action of exculpating or clearing from blame, or from an alleged crime; an instance of this; a ground or means of exculpating; an excuse or a vindication.
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time, an. 1684 (1724), I. 580 (R.). In Scotland the law allows of an exculpation, by which the prisoner is suffered before his trial to prove the thing to be impossible.
1751. Smollett, Per. Pic. (1779), I. xviii. 159. She maintained a sort of ceremonious distance, which she thought requisite … for her own exculpation.
1752. J. Louthian, Form of Process (ed. 2), 100. To bear … Witnessing … anent the said Complainer’s Innocence and Exculpation of the Crime libelled against him.
1788. Reid, Act. Powers, IV. vi. 619. The madness of a short fit of passion … is incapable of proof; and therefore is not admitted in human tribunals as an exculpation.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xxx. Ramorny did not attempt an exculpation.
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, viii. 238. Without seeking to offer any exculpation for what offends us in the moral sensibilities of the Greeks.
b. Letters of exculpation (in Sc. Law): a warrant issued to a defender in a criminal prosecution for citing witnesses in his defence.
1773. Erskine, Instit. Law Scotl. (1838), IV. v. 1123. Letters of exculpation are granted of course, at the suit of a defender in a criminal trial, for citing witnesses, [etc.].
1861. in W. Bell, Dict. Law Scotl., 354/2.
