Novation
/noʊˈveɪʃən/noun
The replacement of an old obligation, contract, or party with a new one.
Did you know?Novation comes from Latin legal language, where a debt or duty could be formally extinguished and replaced—basically a paper ritual of ending one bond and summoning another.
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
novationem
“a making new; a legal substitution of one obligation for another”
Late Latin
Latin
novatio
“renewal, replacement, or change”
Old French
Old French
novation
“renewal; later, legal substitution”
16th–17th Century
English
novation
“the act of making new; later, the replacement of one debt or obligation by another”
Modern English
English
novation
“the substitution of a new contract or obligation for an old one”