abolition
    n 1: the act of abolishing a system or practice or institution
         (especially abolishing slavery); "the abolition of capital
         punishment" [syn: abolition, abolishment]

Abolition \Ab"o*li"tion\, n. [L. abolitio, fr. abolere: cf. F.
   abolition. See Abolish.]
   The act of abolishing, or the state of being abolished; an
   annulling; abrogation; utter destruction; as, the abolition
   of slavery or the slave trade; the abolition of laws,
   decrees, ordinances, customs, taxes, debts, etc.
   [1913 Webster]

   Note: The application of this word to persons is now unusual
         or obsolete
         [1913 Webster]

ABOLITION. An act by which a thing is extinguished, abrogated or
annihilated.  Merl. Repert, h.t., as, the abolition of slavery is the
destruction of slavery.
     2. In the civil and French law abolition is used nearly synonymously
with pardon, remission, grace. Dig. 39, 4, 3, 3. There is, however, this
difference; grace is the generic term; pardon, according to those laws, is
the clemency which the prince extends to a man who has participated in a
crime, without being a principal or accomplice; remission is made in cases
of involuntary homicides, and self-defence.  Abolition is different: it is
used when the crime cannot be remitted.  The prince then may by letters of
abolition remit the punishment, but the infamy remains, unless letters of
abolition have been obtained before sentence. Encycl. de d'Alembert, h.t.
     3. The term abolition is used in the German law in the same sense as in
the French law. Encycl. Amer. h.t. The term abolition is derived from the
civil law, in which it is sometimes used synonymously with absolution. Dig.
39, 4, 3, 3.