Pe‐ti″tion (?), n. [F. pétition, L. petitio, fr. petere, petitum, to beg, ask, seek; perh. akin to E. feather, or find.] 1. A prayer; a supplication; an imploration; an entreaty; especially, a request of a solemn or formal kind; a prayer to the Supreme Being, or to a person of superior power, rank, or authority; also, a single clause in such a prayer.
A house of prayer and petition for thy people. 1 Macc. vii. 37.
This last petition heard of all her prayer. Dryden.
2. A formal written request addressed to an official person, or to an organized body, having power to grant it; specifically (Law), a supplication to government, in either of its branches, for the granting of a particular grace or right; — in distinction from a memorial, which calls certain facts to mind; also, the written document.
Petition of right(Law), a petition to obtain possession or restitution of property, either real or personal, from the Crown, which suggests such a title as controverts the title of the Crown, grounded on facts disclosed in the petition itself. Mozley & W. — The Petition of Right(Eng. Hist.), the parliamentary declaration of the rights of the people, assented to by Charles I.