abeyance

Definition

Expectancy; a condition when an ownership of real property is undetermined; lapse in succession of ownership of estate, or title.

Etymology

First attested in 1528. From Anglo-Norman abeiance (“legal expectation”), from Old French abeance (“desire”) from abeër (“to gape at, aspire after”), abaer, abair (“to desire”), from a (“to”) + baër (“to gape”), bair (“yawn”), from Medieval Latin batō (“to yawn”).

Example Sentences

• "The proceeds of the estate shall be held in abeyance in an escrow account until the minor reaches age twenty-one."
• "Yet sometimes the fee may be in abeyance, that is (as the word signifies) in expectation, remembrance, and contemplation in law; there being no person in esse, in whom it can vest and abide […]"
• "Note: Under the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 all territorial claims are held under abeyance in the interest of international co-operation for scientific purposes."