Desperate
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Of which there Is no hope. This term is used frequently in making an inventory of a decedent's effects, when a debt is considered so bad that there is no hope of recovering it. It is then called a desperate debt, and, if it be so returned, it will be prima fade considered as desperate.
See Toller, Ex'rs., 248; 2 Williams, Ex'rs., 644; 1 Chit. Prac. 580; 11 Wend. (N. Y.) 361.