Countersuit

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A legal action taken by a defendant against the original plaintiff in response to their claim
2. A formal lawsuit initiated as a reply to another lawsuit to assert one's own legal rights
3. A court case brought by the accused party in reaction to claims made in the initial lawsuit

Etymology: Lawyers have long used "countersuit" for a suit that answers a suit, and the word is almost transparent: it joins "counter-", meaning against or in opposition, to "suit" in its old legal sense of a case brought before a court. The second half carries most of the history. "Suit" descends from Latin "sequi", "to follow", through Vulgar Latin "sequita" and Old French "siute", which became Anglo-Norman "suite" and Middle English "sute". The notion underneath is pursuit: a suit was originally the act of following someone up, pressing a claim against them. The first part is older and more concrete still. "Counter-" traces back through Old French "contre" to Latin "contra", meaning "against" or "opposite", and ultimately to a Proto-Italic compound built from "kom" (with) and a comparative ending. English took it in as a prefix long before it was used in legal contexts, so the word is a straightforward combination of a familiar opposing prefix with a legal term of following-up.

Synonyms: reconventional suit, cross-complaint, defensive lawsuit, cross-action, back suit