The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Approvement \Ap*prove"ment\, n. [Obs.]
1. Approbation.
[1913 Webster]
I did nothing without your approvement. --Hayward.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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.
[1913 Webster]
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
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.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
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.