Legal Definition and Related Resources of Abate

To reduce, decrease, destroy , quash , terminate. The word abate when used by itself commonly means to put an end to. Dodge v superior court , 22 P.2d 695, 139 Va. 178.

(Extinguish), verb

• abolish
• abrogate
• annul
• cadere
• cancel
• defeat
• destroy
• discontinue
• dissolve
• eliminate
• exterminate
• invalidate
• nullify
• obliterate
• put an end to
• quash
• quell
• repeal
• rescind
• revoke
• terminate
• void Associated Concepts: abate a bequest
• abate a cause of action
• abate a debt
• abate a devise
• abate a legacy
• abate an action

(Lessen), verb

• alleviate
• curtail
• decline
• decrease
• decrescere
• diminish
• imminui
• lighten
• limit
• mitigate
• modify
• palliate
• reduce
• relieve
• remittere
• suppress
• temper Associated Concepts: abate a nuisance
• abate a tax

Browse or run a search for Abate in the American Encyclopedia of Law, the Asian Encyclopedia of Law, the European Encyclopedia of Law, the UK Encyclopedia of Law or the Latin American and Spanish Encyclopedia of Law.

Abate in Historical Law

You might be interested in the historical meaning of this term. Browse or search for Abate in Historical Law in the Encyclopedia of Law.

Search for legal acronyms and/or abbreviations containing Abate in the Legal Abbreviations and Acronyms Dictionary.

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Mentioned in these terms

Enjoin, Legacy.

Abate in the Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims

To quash, beat down, destroy. That of abating a writ or action – its overthrow or defeat by some fatal exception to it.

Note: This legal definition of Abate in the Dictionary of Law (English and American Jurisprudence) is from 1893.

What does Abate mean in American Law?

The definition of Abate in the law of the United States, as defined by the lexicographer Arthur Leff in his legal dictionary is:

A word with at least three separate meanings, the distinctions among which are, alas, legally significant. The first meaning is to destroy, quash, kill, end forever. This meaning is intended, for example, when it is said that a nuisance, or (sometimes) a legal action, is to be abated.

A second meaning of abate, which also applies to legal action, is closer to “stop in its tracks,” “temporarily derail,” or (even) “slow down.” The idea is that the abated thing is seriously interfered with, stayed, put into a coma perhaps, but that there are methods available to one who wishes to resuscitate it. It is this meaning of abate which seems to be involved in plea in abatement: an objection to some formal aspect of a pleading which, if sustained, will “end” the action-but only until the proponent successfully repleads.

Naturally, these first and second senses of abate will tend to merge as raising an action from the legal equivalent of death becomes, in modern

practice, easier. If bringing a “new” action after the original action is “killed” is no more difficult in fact than getting a temporarily derailed, or stayed, action back on the tracks, then it makes little practical difference whether abate has its first or second meaning. Hence the old distinction between “abate” as used in law (first meaning) and as used in equity (second meaning) is of decreasing modern importance.

There is, however, still a third meaning of abate: decrease; lessen; soften the impact of. This meaning applies in formulations like abatement of debt and tax abatement. In practice, and quite surprisingly, the first, most absolute meaning of abate-kill, destroy, etc.-sometimes almost merges with this third “softer” meaning, as where abatement of nuisance frequently turns out in practice to mean something like “cut down the annoying aspects of the alleged nuisance as much as one feasibly can.” And see abatement of tax.