Contumacy

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. Stubborn perverseness; pertinacious resistance to authority. The bishop commanded him . . . to be thrust into the stocks for his manifest and manifold contumacy. Strype.

2. A willful contempt of, and disobedience to, any lawful summons, or to the rules and orders of court, as a refusal to appear in court when legally summoned.

Synonyms: Stubbornness; perverseness; obstinacy.