Legal Definitions - decessus

Decessus refers to a departure, most commonly signifying a death. In a more specific legal context, particularly within civil and common law, it can also describe the act of abandoning a previously stated legal argument or ground in a pleading in favor of a new one during litigation.

• Example 1 (Death):

  A will specifies that certain assets are to be distributed among the heirs only upon the decessus of the testator's spouse. This means the inheritance process for those specific assets will commence after the spouse's death.

  This example illustrates the primary meaning of decessus as a death, specifically as a triggering event for the execution of a legal document like a will.

• Example 2 (Departure in Pleading):

  During a contract dispute, the defendant initially argued that the contract was invalid due to a lack of consideration. However, in a subsequent filing, their legal team shifted their defense to claim the contract was unenforceable due to fraud, effectively making a decessus from their original legal argument.

  Here, decessus describes the defendant's act of abandoning their initial legal defense (lack of consideration) and adopting a new one (fraud) within the same lawsuit. This change represents a "departure" from the grounds stated in their earlier pleading.