Lis

A controversy; an action at law.

Lat. A controversy or dispute; a suit or action at law.

— Lis alibi pendens. A suit pending elsewhere. The fact that proceedings are pending between a plaintiff and defendant in one court in respect to a given matter is frequently a ground for preventing the plaintiff from taking proceedings in another court against the same defendant for the same object and arising out of the same cause of action. Sweet.

— Lis mota. A controversy moved or begun. By this term is meant a dispute which has arisen upon a point or question which afterwards forms the issue upon which legal proceedings are instituted. Westfelt v. Adams, 131 N. C. 379, 42 S. E. 823. After such controversy has arisen, (post ltem motam,) it is held, declarations as to pedigree, made by members of the family since deceased, are not admissible. See 4 Camp. 417; 6 Car. & P. 560.

— Lis pendens. A suit pending; that legal process, in a suit regarding land, which amounts to legal notice to all the world that there is a dispute as to the title. In equity the filing of the bill and serving a subpœna creates a Its pendens, except when statutes require some record. Stim. Law Gloss. See Boyd v. Emmons, 103 Ky. 393, 45 S. W. 364; Tinsley v. Rice, 105 Ga. 285, 31 S. E. 174; Bowen v. Kirkland, 17 Tex. Civ. App. 346, 44 S. W. 189; Hines v. Duncan, 79 Ala. 117, 58 Am. Rep. 580. In the civil law. A suit pending. A suit was not said to be pending before that stage of it called "litis contestatio, (q. v.) Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 219; Calvin,

— Notice of lis pendens. A notice filed for the purpose of warning all persons that the title to certain property is in litigation, and that, if they purchase the defendant's claim to the same, they are in danger of being bound by an adverse judgment. See Empire Land & Canal Co. v. Engley, 18 Cole, 388, 33 Pan. 153.

I. A controversy or dispute; a suit at law. Lis alibi pendens: an action pending elsewhere; a plea of such an action. Lis mota: a controversy originated; a term frequently used in the discussion of evidence in matters of pedigree, and held to import not an actual suit commenced, but a dispute or controversy originating prior to the beginning of judicial proceedings. Lis pendens: a pending suit; the actual pendency of a suit, or other judicial proceeding; in a suit regarding land, such legal process as gives notice to all the ■world of a dispute as to the title; in equity, except by statute requiring record, the filing of a bill and service of a subpoena.

In the civil law. Lis pendens: a suit pending.

I. A dispute, controversy; a suit. Lis mota: a controversy begun [before suit]; suit brought. Lis pendens: a suit pending; that legal process, in a suit regarding land, which amounts to legal notice to all the world that there is dispute as 1o the title; in equity, the filing of the bill and serving a subpoena creates a lis pendens, except when statutes require some record.

A controversy; a dispute; particularly, a legal controversy; an action or proceeding in law. Lis mota. A controversy begun; a dispute arisen. This refers to the origin of a controversy, before judicial proceedings are taken; and the term is used to express the distinction between declarations made ante litem motam and post litem motam, which is important in settling the admissibility of such declarations as evidence in matters of pedigree. Lis pendens. A suit pending; the actual pendency of a judicial proceeding. A term frequently used to denote the pendency of a proceeding, actual or constructive notice of which will affect rights of persons not parties to the proceeding in the property which is the subject-matter of, or is affected by, the proceeding. In equity practice, filing the bill and serving a subpoena generally created a lis pendens. Statutes in many of the United States require the filing of a notice of the lis pendens to be effectual, as such, where real property is intended to be affected by the suit. Inasmuch as any suit or action involving title would, when decided, naturally affect the land according to its result, in whosesoever hands the land might be at the date of the decision, Stat. 2 & 3 Vict. ch. 11, § 7, enacted that no lis pendens, unless or until the same was registered, and duly re-registered, should bind a purchaser or mortgagee not having express notice thereof. By the Stat. 13 & li Vict. ch. 35, § 17, a special case to which appearances have been entered is made a lis pendens. Lastly, by Stat. 30 & 31 Vict. ch. 47, § 2, if a suit or action is not prosecuted in a bona fide manner, the court may order the registration of it as a lis pendens to be vacated, and that even without the consent of the person registering the same. Brown.