Merits

The state of facts of deserving; intrinsic ground of consideration or reward. Cent. Diet. The word is used principally in matters of defence. A defence upon the merits is one that rests upon the justice of the cause, and not upon technical grounds only; there is, therefore, a difference between a good defence, which may be technical or not, and a defence on the merits; 5 B. & Aid. 703; Mc- Camey v. Mc Camp, 1 Ashm. (Pa.) 4. In the New York Code of • Procedure, It has been held to mean “the strict legal rights of the parties as contra-distinguished from those mere questions of practice which every court regulates for itself, and from all matters which depend upon the discretion or favor of the court” St. Johns v. West 4 a case “upon It^ merits” as referred to in the federal Judiciary Act of 1891 was used In distinction to the review of a question of jurisdiction; Ayres v. Polsdorfer, 187 U. S. 695, 23 Sup. Ct 196, 47 L. Ed. 314.