dilatory plea
- noun
- /ˈdɪləˌtɔri pli/
- Formal
:
moción dilatoria
- The defendant entered a dilatory plea to challenge the court's jurisdiction.
Examples
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The defense filed a dilatory plea to postpone the trial.
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Lawyers sometimes use a dilatory plea as a strategy to buy more time for the defense.
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Because the dilatory plea did not address the substance of the claim, the trial was postponed.
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Can a dilatory plea really affect the outcome?
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The lawyer filed a dilatory plea to delay the trial and question the evidence presented.
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Using a dilatory plea, the defense aimed to extend the proceedings while gathering more evidence.
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The judge rejected the dilatory plea because it did not address the key issues of the case.
Synonyms
11
6.2
A delay that lets something happen at a later time
7
5.8
A delay that moves an event or decision to a later time
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'dilatory' means tending to delay and 'plea' is a legal request/reply, so the phrase literally denotes a plea made to delay proceedings. This is a straightforward adjective + noun composition that a B1 learner who knows both words can derive, despite the term's legal register.
Etymology
Dilatory plea is a legal phrase that comes from the image of a lawyer raising a small rule or problem to slow the court; dilatory means 'to delay' and plea is a formal request. So a dilatory plea is a request made to hold things up instead of deciding the main point of the case.