1. A general term for an action, Cause, suit, or controversy, at law or in equity; a question contested before a court of justice; an aggregate of facts which furnisher occasion for the exercise of the jurisdiction of a court of justice. Smith v. Waterbury, 54 Conn. 174, 7 Atl. 17; Kundolf v. Thalheimer, 12 N. Y. 506; Gebhard v. Sattler, 40 Iowa, 156.