contumacy

noun

Etymology: From Latin contumācia, from contumāx (“refusing to appear in a court of law in disobedience of a summons; insolent, obstinate, stiff-necked”).

1. Disobedience, resistance to authority.

   “[T]heſe Muſhrome Lords (Spirituall onely in Title, but wholly Temporall in reality), firſt ſprouted up by inſenſible degrees in the Church of Christ; ſo it is moſt infallibly convinced of notorious falſehood, by the multitude of thoſe moſt execrable Treaſons, Treacheries, Conſpiracies, Rebellions, Contumacies, Inſurrections, Seditions, and Anti-Monarchiall practiſes of Lordly Prelates, againſt their Soveraignes, in all ages ſince they grew rich and potent, in all Kingdomes and Churches where they have been admitted; […]”

   “Persons Judicially cited, are ſometimes wont, by a Non-Appearance in Court, to contemn the Judges Authority; and thereby to render themſelves contumacious: wherefore, I will conſider theſe Perſons under the following heads. […] 2dly, Examine how many Species or Kinds of Contumacy there are. […] The Plaintiff on the Return of a Peremptory Citation ought not to accuſe the Contumacy of the Perſon ſummon'd, otherwiſe he ſhall not be adjudged contumacious.”