ABATEMENT

in law, interruption of a legal proceeding upon the pleading by a defendant of a matter that prevents the plaintiff from going forward with the action at that time or in that form. Pleas in abatement raise such matters as objections to the place, mode, or time of the plaintiff's claim. At one time, abatement of proceedings in equity differed from abatement in law, in that the former merely suspended the action, subject to revival when the defect was cured, whereas the latter terminated it, although the plaintiff could start the action anew. The latter is now the more common usage. The term abatement is also used in law to mean the removal or control of annoyance.