Discontinuance

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Discontinuance \Dis`con*tin"u*ance\, n.
     1. The act of discontinuing, or the state of being
        discontinued; want of continued connection or continuity;
        breaking off; cessation; interruption; as, a
        discontinuance of conversation or intercourse;
        discontinuance of a highway or of travel.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Law)
        (a) A breaking off or interruption of an estate, which
            happened when an alienation was made by a tenant in
            tail, or other tenant, seized in right of another, of
            a larger estate than the tenant was entitled to,
            whereby the party ousted or injured was driven to his
            real action, and could not enter. This effect of such
            alienation is now obviated by statute in both England
            and the United States.
        (b) The termination of an action in practice by the
            voluntary act of the plaintiff; an entry on the record
            that the plaintiff discontinues his action.
        (c) That technical interruption of the proceedings in
            pleading in an action, which follows where a defendant
            does not answer the whole of the plaintiff's
            declaration, and the plaintiff omits to take judgment
            for the part unanswered. --Wharton's Law Dict.
            Burrill.
  
     Syn: Cessation; intermission; discontinuation; separation;
          disunion; disjunction; disruption; break.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  discontinuance
       n : the act of discontinuing or breaking off; an interruption
           (temporary or permanent) [syn: {discontinuation}] [ant: {continuance},
            {continuance}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  49 Moby Thesaurus words for "discontinuance":
     abandonment, abeyance, abjuration, abjurement, breakoff,
     broken thread, brokenness, cease, ceasing, cessation, close,
     closing, cold storage, desinence, desistance, desuetude,
     disconnectedness, disconnection, discontinuation, discontinuity,
     discontinuousness, discreteness, disjunction, end, ending, episode,
     fitfulness, forbearance, incoherence, incompleteness,
     intermittence, irregularity, non sequitur, noncontinuance,
     nonexercise, nonlinearity, nonseriality, nonuniformity,
     parenthesis, relinquishment, renouncement, renunciation,
     resignation, shutdown, stopping, surcease, suspension, termination,
     waiver
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  DISCONTINUANCE, pleading. A chasm or interruption in the pleading. 
       2. It is a rule, that every pleading, must be an answer to the whole of 
  what is adversely alleged. Com. Dig. Pleader, E 1, ri 4; 1 Saund. 28, n. 3; 4
  
  Rep. 62, a. If, therefore, in an action of trespass for breaking a close, 
  and cutting three hundred trees, the defendant pleads as to cutting all but 
  two hundred trees, some matter of justification or title, and as to the 
  two hundred trees says nothing, the plaintiff is entitled to sign judgment, 
  as by nil dicit against him, in respect of the two hundred trees, and to 
  demur, or reply to the plea, as to the remainder of the trespasses. On the 
  other hand, if he demurs or replies to the plea, without signing, judgment 
  for the part not answered, the whole action is said to be discontinued. For 
  the plea, if taken by the plaintiff as an answer to the, whole action, it 
  being, in fact, a partial answer only, is, in contemplation of law, a mere 
  nullity, and a discontinuance takes place. And such discontinuance will 
  amount to error on the record; such error is cured, however, after verdict, 
  by the statute of Jeo fails, 32 H. VIII. c. 80; and after judgment by nil 
  dicit, confession, or non sum informatus, by stat. 4 Ann. c. 16. It is to be 
  observed, that as to the plaintiff's course of proceeding, there is a 
  distinction between a case like this, where the defendant does not profess 
  to answer the whole, and a case where, by the commencement of his plea, he 
  professes to do so, but, in fact, gives a defective and partial answer, 
  applying to part only. The latter case amounts merely to insufficient 
  pleading, and the plaintiff's course, therefore, is not to sign judgment for 
  the part defectively answered, but to demur to the whole plea. 1 Saund. 28, 
  n. 
       3. It is to be observed, also, that where the part of pleading to which 
  no answer is given, is immaterial, or such as requires no separate or 
  specific answer for example, if it be mere matter of allegation, the rule 
  does not in that case apply. Id. See Com. Dig. Pleader, W; Bac. Abr. Pleas, 
  P. 
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  DISCONTINUANCE, estates. An alienation made or suffered by the tenant in 
  tail, or other tenant seised in autre droit, by which the issue in, tail, or 
  heir or successor, or those in reversion or remainder, are driven to their 
  action, and cannot enter. 
       2. The term discontinuance is used to distinguish those cases where the 
  party whose freehold is ousted, can restore it only by action, from those in 
  which he ma restore it by entry. Co. Litt. 325 a 3 Bl. Com. 171; Ad. Ej. 35 
  to 41; Com. Dig. h.t.; Bac. Ab. h.t.; Vin. Ab. h.t.; Cruise's Dig. Index, 
  b.. t..5 2 Saund. Index, h.t. 
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  DISCONTINUANCE, practice. This takes place when a plaintiff leaves a chasm 
  in the proceedings of his cause, as by not continuing the process regularly 
  from day to day, and time to time, as he ought. 3 Bl. Com. 296. See 
  Continuance. A discontinuance, also, is an entry upon the record that the 
  plaintiff discontinues his action. 
       2. The plaintiff cannot discontinue his action after a demurrer joined 
  and entered, or after a verdict or a writ of inquiry without leave of court. 
  Cro. Jac. 35 1, Lilly's Abr. 473; 6 Watts & Serg. 1417.  The plaintiff is, 
  on discontinuance, generally liable for costs. But in some cases, he is not 
  so liable. See 3 Johns. R. 249; 1 Caines' R. 116; 1 Johns. R. 143; 6 Johns. 
  R. 333; 18 Johns. R. 252; 2 Caines' Rep. 380; Com. Dig. Pleader, W 5; Bac. 
  Abr. Pleas' P.