Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

abandonment,

The relinquishing of a right or interest with the intention of never again claiming it. 0 In the context of contracts for the sale of land, courts sometimes use the term abandonment as if it were synonymous with rescission, but the two'should be distinguished. An abandonment is merely the acceptance by one party of the situation that a nonperforming party has caused. But a rescission due to a material breach by the other party is a termination or discharge of the contract for all purposes. 2. Family law. The act of leaving a spouse or child willfully and without an intent to return. Cf. DESERTION. "The lines of distinction between abandonment and the many forms of child neglect are often not very clear so that failure to support or to care for a child may sometimes be characterized as abandonment and sometimes as neglect." Homer H. Clark, Jr., The Law of Domestic Relations in the United States § 20.6, at 895 (1988).