1. In the Roman Church, Emancipatio canonicarum is the raising of some member of a convent to an ecclesiastical dignity, by virtue of which he is no longer subject to his former superior. The Emancipatio canonica is the release of a young canon from the obligation of visiting the foundation school when about to receive a prebend.
2. The term is also used to denote the act whereby a government or Legislature delivers from a state of slavery, or sets at political liberty, any classes of persons who have previously been declared ineligible for certain offices or privileges, on account of their religious peculiarities, e.g. emancipation of Jews in Christian countries, (See JEWS); Roman Catholic emancipation in 1829 in England, (See TESTS).
3. The freeing of slaves from bondage, (See SLAVERY).