Subreption (Lat. subreptio), in canon law the concealment or suppression of statements or facts that according to law or usage should be expressed in an application or petition for a rescript. In its effects subreption is equivalent to obreption (q. v.), which consists in a positive allegation of what is false. Subreption may be intentional and malicious, or attributable solely to ignorance or inadvertence. It may affect the primary, substantial reason or motive of the grant, or constitute merely a secondary or impellent cause of the concession. For the effect of subreption on the validity of grants see REscripts.
Decretalia, I, 3, c. 20, De Rescriptis, and canonists generally.
A. B. Meehan.