“A cognovit is an instrument signed by a defendant in an action actually commenced confessing the plaintiff’s demand to be just, and empowering the plaintiff to sign judgment against him in default of his paying the plaintiff the sum due to him within the time mentioned in the cognovit.” John Indermaur, Principles of the Common Law 8 (Edmund H. Bennett ed., 1st Am. ed. 1878).
cognovit
cognovit (kog-noh-vit). [Latin “he has conceded (a debt or an action)”] An acknowledgment of debt or liability in the form of a confessed judgment. • Formerly, credit contracts often included a cognovit clause in which the consumer relinquished, in advance, any right to be notified of court hearings in any suit for nonpayment — but such clauses are now generally illegal. See CONFESSION OF JUDGMENT. Cf. WARRANT OF ATTORNEY. [Cases: Federal Civil Procedure 2396; Judgment 54. C.J.S. Judgments §§ 140, 143–144, 170.]
