ACCUSA. — In its most proper sense, it is the act by which someone is referred to the competent judge so that he may answer for a specific crime and receive just punishment. In this sense, the accusation coincides with the criminal action, which canon law (can. 1934) reserves exclusively to the promotor of justice (v. AZIONE); it remains distinct, however, both from the denunciation (v.) and from the complaint (v.), which sometimes constitute its prerequisite.
In canon law, the term accusation is also used to indicate the judicial challenge to the validity of a marriage or of a sacred ordination (v. SACRO).
For the accusation of sins, V. CONFESSIONE.