abeyance
n.n. a state where something is paused or stopped for a short time. In law, it means a right or title is not being used or claimed for a while.
n. a state of temporary suspension or inactivity; in legal contexts, the state of a right or title that is not currently in use or being claimed.
The court placed the case in abeyance until the new evidence arrived.
The company kept the patent in abeyance while they waited for the government to approve the new regulations.
The legal dispute remained in abeyance for several years as the parties sought a more amicable resolution through private mediation rather than a public trial.
First attested in 1528. From Anglo-Norman abeiance (“legal expectation”), from Old French abeance (“desire”) from abeër (“to gape at, aspire after”), abaer, abair (“to desire”), from a (“to”) + baër (“to gape”), bair (“yawn”), from Medieval Latin batō (“to yawn”).