Law Dictionary of Legal Terminology

LITIGATION

LITIGATION. A contest authorized by law, in a court of justice, for the purpose of enforcing a right.

2. In order to prevent injustice, courts of equity will restrain a party from further litigation, by a writ of injunction; for example, after two verdicts on trials at bar, in favor of the plaintiff, a perpetual injunction was decreed. Str. 404. And not only between two individuals will a court of equity grant this relief, as in the above case of several ejectments, but also, when one general-legal right, as a right of fishery, is claimed against several, distinct persons, in which case there would be no end of bringing actions, since each action would only bind the particular right in question, between the plaintiff and defendant in such action, without deciding the general right claimed. 2 Atk. 484; 2 Ves. jr. 587. Vide Circuity of Actions.