Approvement

Approvement \Ap*prove"ment\, n. [Obs.]
   1. Approbation.
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            I did nothing without your approvement. --Hayward.
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   2. (Eng. Law) a confession of guilt by a prisoner charged
      with treason or felony, together with an accusation of his
      accomplish and a giving evidence against them in order to
      obtain his own pardon. The term is no longer in use; it
      corresponded to what is now known as turning king's (or
      queen's) evidence in England, and state's evidence in the
      United States. --Burrill. Bouvier.
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Approvement \Ap*prove"ment\, n. (Old Eng. Law)
   Improvement of common lands, by inclosing and converting them
   to the uses of husbandry for the advantage of the lord of the
   manor. --Blackstone.
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APPROVEMENT, English crim. law. The act by which a person indicted of
treason or felony, and arraigned for the same, confesses the same before any
plea pleaded, and accuses others, his accomplices, of the same crime, in
order to obtain his pardon. 2 This practice is disused. 4 Bl. Com. 330 1
Phil. Ev. 37. In modern practice, an accomplice is permitted to give
evidence against his associates. 9 Cowen, R. 707; 2 Virg. Cas. 490; 4 Mass.
R. 156; 12 Mass. R. 20; 4 Wash. C. C. R. 428; 1 Dev. R. 363; 1 City Hall
Rec. 8. In Vermont, on a trial for adultery, it was held that a particeps
criminis was not a competent witness, because no person can be allowed to
testify his own guilt or turpitude to convict another. N. Chap. R. 9.
    

APPROVEMENT, English law. 1. The inclosing of common land within the lord's
waste, so as to leave egress and regress to a tenant who is a commoner. 2.
The augmentation of the profits of land. Stat. of Merton, 20 Hen. VIII.; F.
N. B. 72 Crompt. Jus. 250; 1 Lilly's Reg. 110.