[ad. med.L. clandestīnitās, in F. clandestinité, f. L. clandestīnus, F. clandestin: see -ITY.] Clandestine quality or state; secrecy, privacy; usually in bad sense.
1682. Stillingfl., Speech, Miscell. (1735), 87 (T.). Clandestinity and Disparity do not void a Marriage, but only make the Proof more difficult.
1789. Bentham, Princ. Legisl., ix. § 15. Dolus … would be understood to imply deceit, concealment, clandestinity.
1875. Contemp. Rev., XXVI. 423. The Council of Trent created the impediment of clandestinity, by which all marriages not celebrated in the presence of the parish priest or his substitute, and of two witnesses, were henceforth to be null and void.
