Laches
LACHES (from Anglo-French lachesse, negligence, from asche, modern Idche, unloosed, slack), a term for slackness >r negligence, used particularly in law to signify negligence >n the part of a person in doing that which he is by law bound o do, or unreasonable lapse of time in asserting a right, seeking elief, or claiming a privilege. Laches is frequently a bar to a remedy which might have been had if prosecuted in proper ime. Statutes of limitation specify the time within which /arious classes of actions may be brought. Apart from statutes of limitation courts of equity will often refuse relief to those who have allowed unreasonable time to elapse in seeking it, on the principle mgilanlibus ac non dormientibus jura subveniunt.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
