recuse

What it means

1. transitiveTo reject or repudiate (an authority, a person, a court judgment, etc.).

   [T]he Quenys grace may alvvayes recuſe & appell at her good pleaſure & libertie, from vvhatſoever Decree or Sentence, either interlocutorie, or definitive, ſhe vvil: […]

   1509–1547 (date written), John Strype, “[Appendix: […].] Numb[er] XXVI. Dr. Fox to Dr. Gardiner; Giving Him a Relation of His Reception at Court, upon His Return from His Embassy.”, in Ecclesiastical Memorials; Relating Chiefly to Religion, and the Reformation of It: Shewing the Various Emergencies of the Church of England, under King Henry the Eighth. […], volume I, London: […] John Wyat, […], published 1721, →OCLC, page 83

   1 more example

   And therfore, if ayenst this peticion any processe be made of any maner Juge spirituel or temporell, and soo the same John have wronge, thanne he provoketh and appelleth this cause directly to the rightwisness of god and to the liege lorde, ffor other juges in his matere he hath utterly suspecte, for greet wronges that he hath had, dreding to have more. He therfor hem utterly recuseth, and herto he fully him submitteth.

   [c. 1421, J. B., “XI. A Petition by J. B. (a Suspected Lollard) to King Henry V.”, in Cecil Munro, editor, Letters of Queen Margaret of Anjou and Bishop Beckington and Others. Written in the Reigns of Henry V. and Henry VI. […], London: […] [John Bowyer Nichols and Sons] for the Camden Society, published 1863, →OCLC, page 28

   1. transitivereflexive or intransitive [sometimes proscribed]lawOf a judge, juror, or prosecutor: to declare (oneself) unable to participate in a court case due to an actual or potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality.

      The judge recused herself from that case, citing a possible conflict of interest as one of the parties was a personal friend.

      2 more examples

      I do not think it would be proper for me to recuse.

      2004 July 4, William Safire, quoting Antonin Scalia, “On Language: 7/4/Oratory”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 May 2015

      The revelation is almost certain to prompt calls for [Samuel] Alito, a member of the court’s conservative wing, to recuse himself from several high-profile cases pending before the court this year involving the election and subsequent attack on the US Capitol, including the blockbuster question of whether Trump may claim immunity from federal election subversion charges.

      2024 May 17, John Fritze, “New York Times: Upside-down US flag flew at home of Justice Samuel Alito after 2020 election”, in CNN

   2. CanadaUStransitivelawTo object to (a judge, juror, or prosecutor) participating in a court case due to an actual or potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality.

      1 more example

      The ſaid [Nicholas] Fiott, likevviſe, recuſeth James Pipon, eſq; [as being a judge in the cause] ſeeing, that he knovvs that the ſaid Fiott is the perſon vvho is the cauſe that the ſaid Pipon hath been ſued by rigour of lavv, before the council, in order to oblige him to do juſtice to the poor concerning the hoſpital.

      1771, [John Shebbeare], An Authentic Narrative of the Oppressions of the Islanders of Jersey. […], volume II, London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC, pages 238–239

      Synonyms: inhibit

In a sentence

[T]he Quenys grace may alvvayes recuſe & appell at her good pleaſure & libertie, from vvhatſoever Decree or Sentence, either interlocutorie, or definitive, ſhe vvil: […]

1509–1547 (date written), John Strype, “[Appendix: […].] Numb[er] XXVI. Dr. Fox to Dr. Gardiner; Giving Him a Relation of His Reception at Court, upon His Return from His Embassy.”, in Ecclesiastical Memorials; Relating Chiefly to Religion, and the Reformation of It: Shewing the Various Emergencies of the Church of England, under King Henry the Eighth. […], volume I, London: […] John Wyat, […], published 1721, →OCLC, page 83

Where it comes from

1. Latinrecūsāre
2. Old Frenchrecuser
3. Middle Englishrecusen
4. Englishrecuse

From Late Middle English recusen, from Old French recuser (modern French récuser (“to challenge; to impugn; (formal) to make an objection; (law) to recuse”), and from its etymon Latin recūsāre, the present active infinitive of recūsō (“to decline, refuse, reject; (law) to object to, protest”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’, denoting opposition or reversal) + causa (“cause, reason; (law) case, claim; etc.”) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Doublet of rouse and possibly ruse. Cognates * Catalan recusar * French récuser * Italian ricusare * Old Occitan recuzar * Portuguese recusar * Spanish recusar