DISCONTINUANCE

discontinuance (dis-k<<schwa>>n-tin-yoo-<<schwa>>nts), n.1. The termination of a lawsuit

by  the  plaintiff; a  voluntary  dismissal  or  nonsuit.  See  DISMISSAL; NONSUIT(1); judgment  of

discontinuance  under  JUDGMENT.  [Cases:  Federal  Civil  Procedure    1691;  Pretrial  Procedure

501.  C.J.S.  Dismissal  and  Nonsuit  §§  2–7,  9–10,  12,  14–16,  24.]  2.  The  termination  of  an

estate-tail by a tenant in tail who conveys a larger estate in the land than is legally allowed. [Cases:

Estates in Property    12.C.J.S. Estates §§ 22–27.]

“Such  is  …  the  injury  of  discontinuance;  which  happens  when  he  who  hath  an  estate-tail,

maketh a larger estate of the land than by law he is entitled to do: in which case the estate is good,

so far as his power extends who made it, but no farther. As if tenant in tail makes a feoffment in

fee-simple, or for the life of the feoffee, or in tail; all which are beyond his power to make, for that

by  the  common  law  extends  no  farther  than  to  make  a  lease  for  his  own  life:  the  entry  of  the

feoffee is lawful during the life of the feoffer; but if he retains the possession after the death of the

feoffor, it is an injury, which is termed a discontinuance; the ancient legal estate, which ought to

have survived to the heir in tail, being gone, or at least suspended, and for a while discontinued.” 3

William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 171–72 (1768). [Blacks Law 8th]