Title and transfer

Laches

The loss of a claim through unreasonable delay in asserting it

An equitable doctrine rather than a deadline: a court declines to help someone who sat on a right long enough that the other side was prejudiced by the waiting. No fixed number of years attaches to it.

How the exam asks about it

Set against a statute of limitations, which is a fixed statutory period. Laches asks whether the delay was unreasonable and harmful, not whether a clock ran out.

Quick check: Laches

One question. Pick an answer to see the explanation.

Which term is being defined: “The loss of a claim through unreasonable delay in asserting it”?

Related terms

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