Latin: In the civil law. Ownership, control, or direction of a suit A fiction of law by which the employment of an attorney or proctor (procurator) in a suit was authorized or justified, he being supposed to become, by the appointment of his principal (dominus) or client, the donv inus litis. Heinecc. Elem. lib. 4, tit 10, {$ 1246, 1247. Litis nomen omnem actionem signif icat, sive in rem, sive in personam sit. Co. Litt. 292. A lawsuit signifies every action, whether it be in rem or in personam.