"fitted or intended to clear from a charge of fault or guilt; exonerating, excusing," 1779, from exculpate + -ory.
Entries linking to exculpatory
exculpate v.
"to clear from suspicion of wrong or guilt," 1650s, from Medieval Latin exculpatus, past participle of exculpare, from Latin ex culpa, from ex "out of" (see ex-) + culpa ablative of culpa "blame, fault." Related: Exculpated; exculpating.
-ory
adjective and noun suffix, "having to do with, characterized by, tending to, place for," from Middle English -orie, from Old North French -ory, -orie (Old French -oir, -oire), from Latin -orius, -oria, -orium.
Latin adjectives in -orius, according to "An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language," tended to "indicate a quality proper to the action accomplished by the agent; as oratorius from orator; laudatorius from laudator. The neuter of these adjectives was early employed as a substantive, and usually denoted the place of residence of the agent or the instrument that he uses; as praetorium from praetor; dormitorium from dormitor; auditorium, dolatorium.
"These newer words, already frequent under the Empire, became exceedingly numerous at a later time, especially in ecclesiastical and scholastic Latin; as purgatorium, refectorium, laboratorium, observatorium, &c." [transl. G.W. Kitchin, Oxford, 1878]