secular arm
The lay or temporal authority of a secular court to pronounce punishment of an…The lay or temporal authority of a secular court to pronounce punishment (particularly capital punishment) of an offender tried by an ecclesiastical court.
Meaning
1 senses(historical)The lay or temporal authority of a secular court to pronounce punishment (particularly capital punishment) of an offender tried by an ecclesiastical court.
The secular arm as a means by which lay power intervenes in ecclesiastical cases had two types: sought and unsought by the Church.
weltlicher Arm
Translations
3 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
From Late Middle English seculer arm, seculer arme (“civil authority or power”), a calqueFrom Late Middle English seculer arm, seculer arme (“civil authority or power”), a calque of Medieval Latin bracchium saeculāre (“(figurative) civil or lay power”), from Latin bracchium (“arm”) + saeculāre (neuter singular form of saeculāris (“profane, temporal, worldly”)).
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Forms
plural: secular arms| Singular | secular arm |
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| Plural | secular arms |
regular