different between compurgator vs compurgation

English

From Medieval Latin compurgator or Middle French compurgateur, from Latin to purify.

compurgator (plural compurgators)

Someone who vouches for another person's innocence, trustworthiness etc.
1. (now historical, law) A character witness in canon law who swore an oath that the accused was innocent.
  - 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 244:
    If a wise woman fell under suspicion from the authorities her neighbours might rally to her defence, providing compurgators in court, or drawing up certificates testifying to her innocence.
2. (historical, law) An ‘oath-helper’ in Anglo-Saxon or Germanic law who testified to the character of an accused person.

From Latin compurg?ti?nem, from compurg?re (“to purify”).

compurgation (countable and uncountable, plural compurgations)

(now chiefly historical) Acquitting someone from a formal charge or accusation following the sworn oaths of a number of other people; vindication.
- 2012, Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex, Penguin 2013, p. 23:
  Between the later middle ages and the early seventeenth century, compurgation appears to have become an increasingly onerous test to pass, perhaps reflecting tightening attitudes to sexual offenders.

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