from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
DILATORY DEFENCE. chancery practice. A dilatory defence is one, the object
of which is to dismiss, suspend, or obstruct the suit, without touching the
merits, until the impediment or obstacle insisted on shall be removed.
2. These defences are of four kinds: 1. To the jurisdiction of the
court. 2. To the person of the plaintiff or defendant. 3. To the form of
proceedings, as that the suit is irregularly brought, or it is defective in
its appropriate allegation of the parties; and, 4. To the propriety of
maintaining the suit itself, because of the pendancy of another suit for the
same controversy. Montag. Eq. Pl. 88; Story Eq. Pl. Sec. 434. Vide Defence:
Plea, dilatory.