audita querela

English

Etymology

Latin for "the complaint having been heard".

Noun

audita querela (plural audita querelas)

1. (law) A writ which lies for a party against whom judgment is recovered, but to whom good matter of discharge has subsequently accrued which could not have been availed of to prevent such judgment.
   • 1730, Anthony Fitzherbert, The New Natura Brevium:

     if an Infant bind himself in a Statute Merchant or Staple, he shall have an Audita Querela during his Nonage, to avoid that Statute, and afterwards he shall have an Audita Querela after his full age, to avoid that Statute upon that MAtter in Fact

References

• “audita querela”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.