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AMENDMENT (through the O. Fr. amender, to correct, from Lat. mendum, a fault)
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AMENDMENT (through the O. Fr. amender, to correct, from Lat. mendum, a fault), an improvement, correction or alteration (nominally at least) for the better. The word is used either of moral character or, more especially, in connexion with " amending " a bill or motion in parliament or resolution at a meeting; and in law it signifies the correction of any defect or error in the record of a civil action or on a criminal indictment. All written constitutions also usually contain a clause providing for the method by which they may be amended. Another noun, in the plural form of " amends," is restricted in its meaning to that of the penalty paid fora fault or wrong committed. In its French form the amende, or amende honorable, once a public confession and apology when the offender passed to the seat of justice barefoot and bareheaded, now signifies in the English phrase a spontaneous and satisfactory rectification of an error.