ratification

[Fr.] [RATIFY.] 1. Ord. Lang.: The act of ratifying; the state of being ratified, sanctioned, or confirmed; sanctioning, confirmation; the act by which a competent authority ratifies, confirms, or gives sanction to something done by another. 2. Law : The confirmation, sanction, or approval given by a person who has arrived at his majority to acts done him during his minority. It has the effect of giving validity to such acts as would be otherwise voidable. Ratification by a wife: Scots Law : A declaration on oath made by a wife before a justice of the peace (her husband being absent) that the deed she has executed has been made freely, and that she has not been induced to make it by her husband through force or fear. rat-i-fi-er, s . [Eng. ratify; -er.] One who or that which ratifies, sanctions, or confirms. "The ratifiers and props of every word." Shakesp .: Hamlet , iv. 5. IMG:content-0231.png:[blocks in formation] *răt-i-ha-bi-tion, subst . [Lat. ratihabitio , from ratus fixed, and habeo (sup. habitum )=to have.] Confirmation, approval, consent. "In matters criminal, rat i habit i on , or approving of the act, does always make the approver guilty." Jeremy Taylor: Rule of Conscience, bk. iv., ch. i. rāt'-ing, pr. par., a. & 8. [RATE (1), v.] A. & B. As pr.par . & particip.adj .: (See the verb.) C. As substantive: 1. The act of estimating, valuing, or a e ing. 2. The amount or value at which a thing is rated or a e ed. 3. Rank, degree, standing; as, the rating of ships of the navy, that is, their division or cla ification in grades, by which the complement of officers, and certain allowances are determined. The rating of seamen is the grade or rank in which they are entered on the ship's books.