AVOWRY

avowry ([schwa]-vow-ree), n. Common-law pleading. An acknowledgment — in an answer to a replevin action — that one has taken property, and a justification for that taking (the defendant’s avowry was based on alleged damage to the property by the plaintiff). Cf. COGNIZANCE(4). [Cases: Replevin 64.] — avow, vb.