v. [f. L. lītigāt-, ppl. stem of lītigāre, f. līt-, līs lawsuit.]
1. intr. To be a party to, or carry on, a suit at law; to go to law. Also † gen. to dispute.
1615. Daniel, Queen’s Arcadia, Poems (1717), 181. Then might they be taught … To litigate perpetually.
1675. Baxter, Cath. Theol., I. I. 27. If any will litigate de nomine entis, let them call it Being or No-being as they please.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 83. The Appellant after the Interposition of an Appeal still litigates in the same Cause before the Judge a Quo.
1834. Tait’s Mag., I. 697/1. Making the determination of two Justices of Peace final, if the Quaker did not litigate farther.
1881. Daily News, 29 Dec., 5/3. It was a characteristic of Lord Justice Lush as a Judge to prevent suitors if he could from litigating to the uttermost.
2. trans. To make the subject of a lawsuit; to contest at law; to plead for or against.
1741. T. Robinson, Gavelkind, II. v. 234. A question formerly much litigated.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), I. xiii. 87. If I do not oblige them, my grandfather’s estate is to be litigated with me.
1774. Connect. Col. Rec. (1887), XIV. 381. A rate of one penny farthing on the pound, to pay their costs in sundry matters litigated before the Assembly.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, XII. 515. Litigating warm Their right in some small portion of the soil.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), VI. 350. The precise question ought not to be again litigated.
1864. Burton, Scot Abr., II. i. 117. The property in ‘Anderson’s Pills’ was litigated in the Court of Session.
b. gen. To dispute, contest (a point, etc.).
1739. Cibber, Apol. (1756), II. 26. He never cared to litigate anything that did not affect his figure upon the stage.
1758. H. Walpole, Catal. Roy. Authors (1759), II. 230. The point indeed has been much litigated, but is of little consequence.
1842. G. S. Faber, Prov. Lett. (1844), I. 91. He … deems it indecorous to litigate the question with his diocesan.
Hence Litigating vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), II. 10. Compelling my litigating opponents to an accomodation.
1780. Newgate Cal., V. 25. A family estate, the right of which was litigating in the court of chancery.
1884. T. H. Gore, in Law Times, 8 Nov., 29/1. The retailer was the person litigating.
