Retraxit
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
He withdraws
This word, used as a substantive, is the name of the act by which, in old English practice, a plaintiff might withdraw his suit, — retraxit being the emphatic word used in entering the withdrawal of record. It was a voluntary renunciation of the suit, by which the plaintiff lost his right of action, and was barred from ever commencing another action for the same cause. The proceeding is obsolete in England. A retraxit is an open and voluntary renunciation in court of a suit by the plaintiff, by which he for ever loses his action. A retraxit is very similar to a nolle prosequi; the difference between them being that a retraxit is a bar to any future action for the same cause, whereas a nolle prosequi is not, unless made after judgment. (2 Arch. Pract. 1515; Berber ». Sayer, 2 Dowl. S/- L. 65, note b.) Broum. RETROACTIVE; RETROSPEC-