Test Action
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
An action brought to determine a doubtful right affecting many persons. It may be an action selected from a number of pending actions brought to enforce such a right, the parties agreeing that all actions shall follow the decision in the test action, or a single action may be brought by one person at the instance of all to determine the right. Test cases are sometimes had in criminal practice where the validity of a statute or ordinance is questioned, and a prosecution is lodged against one person, with the tacit understanding that further prosecutions will be postponed, or will be determined according to the result of that one.