Dictionary.net

• Avowal; profession; an obligation entered into before a court of record or before a magistrate, to do or abstain from doing some particular act.

1914 - Nuttall's Standard dictionary of the English language
By Nuttall, P.Austin.

• An acknowledgment of a person or thing; in law, an obligation of record which an individual enters into before a court of record, or before a magistrate duly authorised, with condition to do some particular act, as to appear before the court again, or to keep the peace; the verdict of a jury upon assize.

1874 - Etymological and pronouncing dictionary of the English language
By Stormonth, James, Phelp, P. H.