RESPONDEAT OUSTER
respondeat ouster (ri-spon-dee-at ow-st<<schwa>>r). [Latin “let him make further answer”]
An interlocutory judgment or order that a party who made a dilatory plea that has been denied
must now plead on the merits. — Also termed judgment respondeat ouster. [Cases: Pleading
111.47.]
“In case of felony, if the plea be held bad, the judgment is respondeat ouster; or rather, as the
defendant generally pleads over to the felony, the jury are charged again, and that at the same time
with the issue on the plea of autrefois acquit, to inquire of the second issue, and the trial proceeds
as if no plea in bar had been pleaded.” 1 Joseph Chitty, A Practical Treatise on the Criminal Law
461 (2d ed. 1826). [Blacks Law 8th]