COGNITIO EXTRAORDINARIA

cognitio extraordinaria (kog-nish-ee-oh ek-stror-di-nair-ee-[schwa] or ek-str[schwa]-or-). [Latin] Roman law. A type of legal proceeding, arising at the beginning of the Empire, in which a government official controlled the conduct of a trial from beginning to end, as opposed to the earlier formulary system in which a magistrate shaped the issues and then turned the issues