Laches is an equitable defense, or doctrine, in an action at law. The person asserting laches, is asserting that an opposing party has "slept on its rights", and that as a result of this delay, they are no longer entitled to their original claim. Put another way, failure to assert one’s rights in a timely manner can result in claims being barred by laches. Laches is a form of estoppel for delay. In Latin, The Court of Chancery, London, early 19th century This article is about concept of equity in Anglo-American jurisprudence. ... English law is a formal term of art that describes the law for the time being in force in England and Wales. ... Estoppel is an equitable doctrine proposing that any person who asks the courts to enforce a legal remedy should have a clear conscience. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language. ...

Vigilantibus non dormientibus æquitas subvenit.

Equity aids the vigilant, not the negligent (that is, those who sleep on their rights).

A frequent component of laches is the requirement that the defendant have changed their position as a result of the delay. In other words, the defendant is in a worse position now, than they were when the claim should have been brought. For example, the delay in asserting the claim may have caused an increase in the potential damages to be awarded, or assets to pay the claim may have been distributed, or the property in question may have been sold, or evidence or testimony may no longer be available.

Laches is not entirely analogous to the expiry of the period allowed under a statute of limitations. It essentially alleges prejudicial delay and unfairness in the context of a particular situation, whereas statutes of limitation tend to define a specific legally prescribed period of time (after the cause of action has accrued) within which a lawsuit for a particular type of cause of action may be commenced or after which the right to recovery is barred. Moreover, while a lawsuit started within a period covered by a limitation period is valid no matter how long it takes to get to trial, laches can be applied even in a situation where a lawsuit has been started and the delays would otherwise be reasonable. It is generally allowed by a court when a defendant could reasonably have believed that the plaintiff was not going to exercise his or her legal rights and acted on that belief to his or her detriment. A statute of limitations is a statute in a common law legal system setting forth the maximum period of time, after certain events, that legal proceedings based on those events may begin. ... A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute. ... A plaintiff, also known as a claimant or complainant, is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an action) before a court. ...

A defense lawyer raising the defense of laches against a motion for injunctive relief (a form of equitable relief) might argue that the plaintiff comes "waltzing in at the eleventh hour" when it is now too late to grant the relief sought, at least not without causing great harm that the plaintiff could have avoided. In certain types of cases (for example, cases involving time-sensitive matters, such as elections), a delay of even a few days is likely to be met with a defense of laches, even where the applicable statute of limitations might allow the class of action to be commenced within a much longer time period. An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that either prohibits or compels (restrains or enjoins) a party from continuing a particular activity. ...

A successful defense of laches will find the court denying the request for equitable relief. However, even if equitable relief is not available, the party may still have an action at law if the statute of limitations has not run out.

Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, laches is an affirmative defense, i.e. the burden of proving laches is on the defendant. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) govern civil procedure in the United States district courts, or more simply, court procedures for civil suits. ... An affirmative defense is a defense used in litigation between private parties in common law jurisdictions. ...

A case that arguably could have been defended using laches is British Telecom's attempt to collect fees for the use of hypertext, over a patent (U.S. Patent 4873662) originally applied for in 1980, but which BT did not attempt to enforce until 2001. However, this defense proved unnecessary --- the U.S. court ruled on August 22, 2002 that the BT patent was not applicable to Web technology. However, in other similar cases, such as Unisys enforcing its GIF patent, a laches defence was either not tried or did not stop its enforcement. BT Group plc (which trades as just BT, and is commonly known by its former name, British Telecom) is the privatised former British state telecommunications operator. ... In computing, hypertext is a user interface paradigm for displaying documents which, according to an early definition (Nelson 1970), branch or perform on request. ... August 22 is the 234th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (235th in leap years), with 131 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

See also

• Estoppel by acquiescence