ACCUSA. — In its strictest sense, this is the act by which someone is brought before the competent judge to answer for a specific crime and receive its just punishment. In this sense, a. is identified with the criminal action, which canon law (can. 1934) reserves exclusively to the promoter of justice (v. AZIONE); whereas it remains distinct both from the denunzia (v.) and from the querela (v.), which sometimes constitute its prerequisite.
In canon law, the term a. is also used to indicate the judicial challenge to the validity of a marriage or of a sacred ordination (v. SACRO).
For the a. of sins V. CONFESSIONE. Ferruccio Liuzzi