Severance \Sev"er*ance\, n.

1. The act of severing, or the state of being severed; partition; separation. --Milman.

2. (Law) The act of dividing; the singling or severing of two or more that join, or are joined, in one writ; the putting in several or separate pleas or answers by two or more disjointly; the destruction of the unity of interest in a joint estate. --Bouvier.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)