brutum fulmen (broo-t[schwa]m f[schwa]l-men or -m[schwa]n). [Latin “inert thunder”] 1. An empty noise; an empty threat; something ineffectual. 2. A judgment void on its face; one that is, in legal effect, no judgment at all. [Cases: Judgment 27, 485, 486. C.J.S. Judgments §§ 499, 512, 546, 549.]
vacate, vb. 1. To nullify or cancel; make void; invalidate (the court vacated the judgment). Cf. OVERRULE. 2. To surrender occupancy or possession; to move out or leave (the tenant vacated the premises).
A failure — which the law will excuse — to take some proper step at the proper time (esp. in neglecting to answer a lawsuit) not because of the party’s own carelessness, inattention, or willful disregard of the court’s process, but because of some unexpected or unavoidable hindrance or accident or because of reliance on
common recovery. Hist. An elaborate proceeding, full of legal fictions, by which a tenant in tail disentailed a fee-tail estate. • The action facilitated land transfer by allowing a potential transferee who was barred by law from receiving land to “recover” the land by suing the actual owner. Common recoveries, which were abolished early in
cassetur billa (k[schwa]-see-t[schwa]r bil-[schwa]). [Latin “that the bill be quashed”] Hist. 1. A judgment quashing a plea in abatement. — Also termed judgment of cassetur billa. 2. A plaintiff’s on-the-record admission that a defendant’s plea in abatement cannot be avoided. • This statement discontinues the action. — Also termed billa cassetur; quod billa cassetur.