in Law, the testimony given in court by a witness upon oath.

DEPOSITION is also used for the sequestrating or depriving a person of his dignity and office.

This deposition only differs from abdication, in that the latter is supposed voluntary, and the act of the dignitary or officer himself; and the former of compulsion, being the act of a superior power, whose authority extends thereto. Some say the deposition, and some the abdication, of King James II.

Deposition does not differ from deprivation: we say, indifferently, a deposed or deprived bishop, official, &c.

Deposition differs from suspension, in that it absolutely and for ever strips or divests a priest, &c. of all dignity, office, &c. whereas suspension only prohibits, or restrains the exercise thereof.

Deposition only differs from degradation, in that the latter is more formal, and attended with more circumstances, than the former: but in effect and substance they are the same; those additional circumstances being only matter of show, first set on foot out of zeal and indignation, and kept up by custom, but not warranted by the laws or canons. See DEGRADATION.