indemnity

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
indemnity
    n 1: protection against future loss [syn: {indemnity},
         {insurance}]
    2: legal exemption from liability for damages
    3: a sum of money paid in compensation for loss or injury [syn:
       {damages}, {amends}, {indemnity}, {indemnification},
       {restitution}, {redress}]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Indemnity \In*dem"ni*ty\, n.; pl. {Indemnities}. [L. indemnitas,
   fr. indemnis uninjured: cf. F. indemnit['e]. See
   {Indemnify}.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. Security; insurance; exemption from loss or damage, past
      or to come; immunity from penalty, or the punishment of
      past offenses; amnesty.
      [1913 Webster]

            Having first obtained a promise of indemnity for the
            riot they had committed.              --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Indemnification, compensation, or remuneration for loss,
      damage, or injury sustained.
      [1913 Webster]

            They were told to expect, upon the fall of Walpole,
            a large and lucrative indemnity for their pretended
            wrongs.                               --Ld. Mahon.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Insurance is a contract of indemnity. --Arnould. The
         owner of private property taken for public use is
         entitled to compensation or indemnity. --Kent.
         [1913 Webster]

   {Act of indemnity} (Law), an act or law passed in order to
      relieve persons, especially in an official station, from
      some penalty to which they are liable in consequence of
      acting illegally, or, in case of ministers, in consequence
      of exceeding the limits of their strict constitutional
      powers. These acts also sometimes provide compensation for
      losses or damage, either incurred in the service of the
      government, or resulting from some public measure.
      [1913 Webster]
    
from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
INDEMNITY. That which is given to a person to prevent his suffering damage. 
2 McCord, 279. Sometimes it signifies diminution; a tenant who has been 
interrupted in the enjoyment of his lease may require an indemnity from the 
lessor, that is, a reduction of his rent. 
     2. It is a rule established in all just governments that, when private 
property is required for public, use, indemnity shall be given by the public 
to the owner. This is the case in the United States. See Code Civil, art. 
545. See Damnification. 
     3. Contracts made for the purpose of indemnifying a person for doing an 
act for which he could be indicted, or an agreement to, compensate a public 
officer for doing an act which is forbidden by law, or omitting to do one 
which the law commands, are absolutely void. But when the agreement with an 
officer was not to induce him to neglect his duty, but to test a legal 
right, as to indemnify him for not executing an execution, it was held to be 
good. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 780. 
    
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
95 Moby Thesaurus words for "indemnity":
      absolution, amends, amnesty, assurance, atonement, award,
      balancing, blood money, bond, certification, commutation,
      compensation, composition, compromise, consideration,
      counteraction, counterbalancing, damages, disbursement,
      endorsement, exculpation, excuse, exemption, exoneration,
      expiation, expiatory offering, grace, guarantee, guaranty, guerdon,
      honorarium, immunity, impunity, indemnification, insurance,
      lex talionis, making amends, making good, making right, making up,
      meed, nolle prosequi, non prosequitur, nonprosecution, offsetting,
      pardon, payment, peace offering, piaculum, price, privilege,
      propitiation, protection, quid pro quo, quittance, reckoning,
      reclamation, recompense, rectification, redemption, redress,
      reimbursement, remission, remission of sin, remuneration,
      reparation, repayment, reprieve, reprisal, requital, requitement,
      restitution, restoration, retaliation, retribution, return,
      revenge, reward, safety, salvage, satisfaction, security, shrift,
      smart money, solatium, sparing, squaring, stay, stocks and bonds,
      substitution, surety, tie, warrant, warranty, wergild

    

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