reconvention

reconvention

the doctrine in private international law that allows a party sued in one jurisdiction to establish jurisdiction against the party suing him, even if, leaving aside the instant action, the party sued could not have founded jurisdiction against the party suing him.

Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006

RECONVENTION, civ. law. An action brought by a party who is defendant against the plaintiff before the same judge. Reconventio est petitio qua reus vicissim, quid ab actore petit, ex eadem, vel diversa causa. Voet, in tit. de Judiciis, n. 78; 4 N. S. 439. To entitle the defendant to institute a demand in reconvention, it is requisite that such demand, though different from the main action, be nevertheless necessarily connected with it and incidental to the same. Code of Pr. Lo. art. 375; 11 Lo. R. 309; 7 N. S. 282; 8 N. S. 516.
     2. The reconvention of the civil law was a species of cross-bill. Story, Eq. Pl. Sec. 402. See Conventio; Bill in chancery. Vide Demand in reconvention.

A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.