emancipation
a. The action or process of setting free or delivering from slavery; and hence, generally, from restraints imposed by superior physical force or legal obligation; liberation. Often used with reference to the freeing of Roman Catholics from the civil disabilities imposed on them by English law. Catholic Emancipation Act: the popular designation of the Act 10 Geo. IV. c. 7 (1829), by which those disabilities were removed.
OED