Abandonment Definition and Legal Meaning

n. in broad legal terms it stands for relinquishment of an interest, claim, privilege or possession. Several different contexts are covered by this term with variable meanings, like plaintiff’s discontinuance of proceedings (in cases of abandonment of an legal action), surrender of a ship or goods to the insurer (in cases of marine insurance), release of material by a copyright holder into the public domain (in cases of copyrights), desertation of a post or place without being on leave by a soldier (in military practices), abandoning spouse or children (in family related cases). Abandonment of public property might cause some confusion regarding ownership. Some laws provide a clause for de facto ownership of government over all abandoned public resources.