a legal proceeding in a court; a judicial contest to determine and enforce legal rights

The act or process of litigating; a suit at law; a judicial contest.

The carrying on of a suit at law; a lawsuit.

The act or process of litigating; a judicial contest.

The act of carrying on a suit in a court of law for the recovery of a right or claim.

It had become widely known that the diamonds were to be the subject of litigation between the young widow and the trustees of the Eustace estate; and it was known also that Lord Fawn had engaged himself to marry the widow, and had then retreated from his engagement simply on account of this litigation. – The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope

Birotteau, not remembering this, and unable to think of any matter of litigation between himself and others, left the table to see the lawyer in a stage of great agitation. – The Vicar of Tours by Honore de Balzac

No specific sum had been voted in parliament for so great an undertaking; which afterwards was the occasion of involving all the parties concerned in trouble and litigation; threatened the ruin of the architect; and I think we shall see, by Vanbrugh's letters, was finished at the sole charge, and even under the superintendence, of the duchess herself! – Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 (of 3) by Isaac Disraeli

Yet Dreiser was at once deprived of his royalties, and forced into expensive litigation. – A Book of Prefaces by H. L. Mencken

Bell, a Scotch minister, also contrived a reaping- machine that was tried in 1828. In the course of the subsequent patent litigation over the reaper the claims of these early inventors were made the most of by McCormick's opponents, but the courts of last resort invariably settled the question in McCormick's favor. – Inventors by Philip Gengembre Hubert

These tamper with the passions of the poorer and more ignorant classes; who, as if poverty were not a sufficient misery in itself, are ever ready to embitter it by litigation. – Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete by Washington Irving

" I can give you the address of my lawyers," he retorted; " any steps you choose to take will only result in loss, and from what you hint I should not think that you had much money to spend on litigation." – The Green Mummy by Fergus Hume

After, I believe, about, six years of litigation, the newspaper press gradually subsided into a pacific disposition towards its adversary, and the contest closed with the account of pecuniary profit and loss, so far as he was concerned, nearly balanced. – Precaution by James Fenimore Cooper

An administrator was then appointed by the Surrogate to conserve the estate during the litigation, and thus the Marsh estate was tied up into a complicated legal knot which only the Surrogate or a decree of a competent court could disentangle. – John Marsh's Millions by Charles Klein Arthur Hornblow

His son was in the office of Register- General of the whole country, who had in his custody all the papers, documents, and everything which could tend to settle a litigation among the parties. – The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. X. (of 12) by Edmund Burke

And yet there is not an incident in it the outline of which was not presented to my mind by the remembrance of some fact:- how an ingenious gentleman got into conversation with me, I not knowing that he knew me to be an editor, and pressed his little article on my notice; how I was addressed by a lady with a becoming pseudonym and with much equally becoming audacity; how I was appealed to by the dearest of little women whom here I have called Mary Gresley; how in my own early days there was a struggle over an abortive periodical which was intended to be the best thing ever done; how terrible was the tragedy of a poor drunkard, who with infinite learning at his command made one sad final effort to reclaim himself, and perished while he was making it; and lastly how a poor weak editor was driven nearly to madness by threatened litigation from a rejected contributor. – Autobiography of Anthony Trollope by Anthony Trollope

Hence the construction of a State statute, or the doctrines of the common law in a particular State, if definitely settled by the courts of that State, must be followed in subsequent litigation in the federal courts. – The American Judiciary by Simeon E. Baldwin, LLD

So tonight I announce that the Justice Department is preparing a litigation plan to take the tobacco companies to court and with the funds we recover to strengthen Medicare. – Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present by Various

There has been a lot of litigation, most of which has gone against us, and it has cost a heap of money. – The Lion and the Mouse A Story of an American Life by Charles Klein

After four or five years of expensive litigation we gave up. – Shorty McCabe on the Job by Sewell Ford