Before entering fully into the clarification of the meaning of the term consent, we have to establish the etymological origin of it. Thus, we can indicate that it derives from Latin, exactly it comes from the verb “adnuere” or “annuere”. This can be translated as making affirmative nods.
It is a concept that refers to assent or consent. Consent, in this way, implies the act of approving, tolerating or affirming something.
For example: “An illicit activity of such caliber can only be carried out with the consent of the authorities”, “The president of the club claims not to have given consent for the celebration of the party”, “If I get the consent of your parents, we will get married next year. ”
Consent is usually linked to consent. The previous example that mentions the president of the club refers to the fact that said director did not give his approval for the organization of a celebration. The groom who plans his marriage, meanwhile, seeks the approval of his in-laws.
The idea of consent may also refer to the omission of a measure of punishment or control that, by context, someone should take. If we consider the case of the first of the previous examples, the development of the illegal act necessarily implies, according to the statement, that the authorities are tolerating the action. In other words: the authorities cannot ignore the facts and, since they are not repressing them, it is understood that they accept them.
In a similar sense, if someone mentions that the students of a school broke the facilities with the consent of the principal, he is referring to the fact that the person in charge of maintaining order and applying possible sanctions to the students, accepted that the damages should occur, in breach of the duties proper to their function.
There are also official documents that show the consent to a specific action. Thus, for example, if an association goes to the city council of its city to be able to organize and hold an event of any kind, the document that that council creates to certify that it is allowed would come to demonstrate its consent.
Within that aforementioned set of documents are, for example, so-called letters of consent in which a power or body with legal power gives its consent, permission or authorization to a person to carry out a specific act.
It must be established that, among other data of interest, it is necessary that in this type of documentation both the data of the two parties “involved” in the process and even the signature of both must appear. Only in this way will their commitment, agreement and authorization remain in order to carry out the act or the specific action that is intended.
Permission, authorization, approval, compliance or approval are some of the synonyms that the word consent has. In the same way, on the contrary, some terms such as disapproval, disapproval, dismissal, disavowal or disagreement are used as antonyms of that word.
