Abatement

[L.Lat. abatam^ntum.] The act of abating; the state of being abated. See Abate; and infra. Abatemsnt of a nuisance. The taking away of a nuisance by pulling, cutting, or breaking it down, or otherwise removing or destroying it.* The remedy winch the law allows a party injured by a nuisance, of destroying or removing it by his own act, so as he commits no riot in doing it, nor occasions (in the case of a private nuisance,) any damage beyond what the removal of the mconvenience necessarily requires.

3 Bl. Com. 6, 168. 3 Steph. Cam. 861. 2 Salk. 468. 1 Chitt. &en. Pract. 647—656. 2 Crahb*s Real Prop. 1078, § 2476.

Abatement of freehold. [L. Lat. abatamtntum.] The overthrow of a freehold by the unlawful entry of a stranger, where the possession is vacant. The act of a stranger in entering upon lands, after the death of the ancestor, or person last seised, and before the entry of the heir, devisee, or person next entitled, and keeping the latter out of possession.

Co. Litt. 277 a. 3 BL Com. 168. 3 Steph. Com. 482. 2 Crahb's Real Prop. 1063, § 2454 b.

A species of ouster of the freehold, the technical peculiarity of which consists in its being effected by intervention, that is, by stepping in, or interposing between the ancestor and heir. Hence called in the books an entry by interposition.

Co. Litt. 277 a.

Abateiouit among legatees. [L. Lat. defalcation The proportionate reduction^ or diminution which legatees are subject to have made in the pecuniary legacies bequeathed to them, when the funds or assets out of which such legacies are payable, are not sufficient to pay them in full. 2 Fonhl. Equity, 369. Ward on Legacies, 369, ch. vi. sec. vii. 1 Story's Equity Jurispr. § 555. Bract, fol. 61 a. 2 BL Com. 512, 613. Abatement in pleading. [L. Lat. cassatio.] The defeating, overthrowing, prostration,'qiiashing, or putting an end, for the present, to a writ or action, by some matter of fact pleaded by a defendant; the plea itself being termed a plea in abatement. Co. Litt. 134 b. 277 a. 3 BL Com, 168. St^h. PL 47, Appendix, Note (22). See Plea in abatement. Abatement in practice. The cessation or determination, (falling, or dropping) of a suit, or the suspension of all proceedings in it, from the want of proper parties capable of proceeding therein; as in consequence of the death of one of the parties during its pendency. 2 Archh, Pr. 299. 2 Tidd's Pract. 932. Story's Eq. Plead. § 354. 6 Whea Um's R. 260. See Cadere. At common law, a suit when abated is absolutely dead, but in equity, a sut when abated is, (if such an expression be allowable,) merely in a state of suspended animation, and may be revived. Story's Eq, PL ub. sup.