Contestatio Litis

Lat. In the civil law. Contestation of suit. A narrative of the controversy made by both the parties to a suit before the praetor, including the plaintiff's statement of his claim, and the defendant's answer thereto. So called because originally conducted before witnesses, (testes.) Hallifax Anal. b.

3, ch. 9, num. 20. Nov. 96, c. 1. 1 Mackeld. Civ. Law, 206, § 203.

This application of the term is retained in the canon law. Id. ibid.

Kaufmann's note

The legal quality which a suit assumed through the plaintiff's statement of his case, and the defendant's answer thereto. Id. ibid. In early English law. The process of coming to an issue in pleading; the attainment of an issue, or the development of the point in controversy, by the alternate and contradictory statements of the respective parties; the issue itself, so attained or produced.

Steph. Pl. Appendix, Note (39).

Fortescue de L. L. Angl. c.

20. Crabb's Hist. Eng. Law, 216.

More commonly termed litis contestatio, (q. v.) The meaning of this term in the civil law seems to have been misapprehended by Blackstone, who makes it synonymous with defence in common law pleading.

3 Bl. Com. 296. Steph. Pl. Appendix, Note (39).

In the practice of the ecclesiastical courts, however, (which he may have had in view,) contestation of suit has the signification of defence. Hallifax Anal. b.

3, ch. 11, num. 9.

And litis contestatio has the same meaning in Germany.

1 Mack. Civ. Law, 206, Kaufmann's note.

Contestatio litis eget terminos contradictorios. An issue requires terms of contradiction.

Jenk. Cent. 117.

To constitute an issue, there must be an affirmative on one side and a negative on the other. See Issue. A misapprehension of the meaning of contestatio litis in this maxim has led to the following unintelligible translation: "The evidence in a law-suit wants contradictory terminations." Branch's Princ.

See Wharton's Lex.