nonsuit

plural nonsuits · alternative non-suit

1. lawA lawsuit that is dismissed as having been brought without cause, prior to an adjudication on the merits.
2. lawA neglect or failure by the plaintiff to follow up his suit; a renunciation or withdrawal of the cause by the plaintiff.

   [A]ltho the party be indicted as vvell as appeald, yet upon the nonſuit of the plaintiff, the proceeding for the king ſhall not be upon the indictment, but upon the appeal.

   a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, “Where a Man shall be Put of Answer in Criminal and Capital Offenses without Indictment at the King’s Suit”, in Sollom Emlyn, editor, Historia Placitorum Coronæ: The History of the Pleas of the Crown, […], volume II, In the Savoy [London]: […] E[lizabeth] and R[ichard] Nutt, and R. Gosling (assigns of Edward Sayer, Esq.), for F. Gyles […], T. Woodward […], and C. Davis […], published 1736, →OCLC, page *149

present singular third person nonsuits · participle present nonsuiting · participle past nonsuited · past nonsuited

1. transitivelawTo dismiss (a suit or plaintiff) on the grounds of his or her lawsuit having been brought without cause, prior to an adjudication on the merits.

   he shall be nonsuited , and pay cost to the defendant

   c. 1821, Zephaniah Swift, The Public Statute Laws of the State of Connecticut

   2 more examples

   [W]here an appeal is brought at the ſuit of the party, and the plaintiff is nonſuit upon that appeal, yet the offender ſhall be arraigned at the king's ſuit upon ſuch appeal; […]

   a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, “Where a Man shall be Put of Answer in Criminal and Capital Offenses without Indictment at the King’s Suit”, in Sollom Emlyn, editor, Historia Placitorum Coronæ: The History of the Pleas of the Crown, […], volume II, In the Savoy [London]: […] E[lizabeth] and R[ichard] Nutt, and R. Gosling (assigns of Edward Sayer, Esq.), for F. Gyles […], T. Woodward […], and C. Davis […], published 1736, →OCLC, page *149

   In short, the attorney was nonsuited, to the satisfaction of all who knew him […].

   1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter XV, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume I, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC