Gravamen

A complaint or grievance, particularly the principal damage claimed to borne by the accuser.

Found in a quot­ed sec­tion of a New Jer­sey child abuse case in a recent post on The Volokh Con­spir­a­cy. The post uses the case to raise ques­tions of bal­anc­ing reli­gious free­dom and parental rights in legal cases.