Vexatious Action - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition vexatious-action

Definition :

Vexatious action. The High Court has an inherent power to stay any action brought merely for the sake of annoyance or oppression, see Lawrance v. Norreys, (1890) 15 App Cas 210; Haggard v. Pelicier Freres, 1892, AC 61; see also R.S.C. Ord. XXV., r. 4; and the (English) Judic. Act, 1925, s. 5, replacing the (English) Vexatious Actions Act, 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. 51), gives special power to the court if satisfied, on the application of the Attorney-General, that any person has habitually and persistently instituted vexatious proceedings in any Court to order that no proceedings shall be instituted by that person in any court without the leave of the Court or some judge thereof. See also the Vexatious Actions (Scotland) Act, 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 35). An order dismissing an action as frivolous and vexatious is an interlocutory order, Re Page, (1910) 1 Ch 489.