Abeyance

temporary inactivity, cessation, or suspension:
Let’s hold that problem in abeyance for a while.
Law. a state or condition of real property in which title is not as yet vested in a known titleholder:
an estate in abeyance.
Contemporary Examples

The court will then hold the eleven felony allocutions in abeyance.
Inside the ‘PayPal 14’ Trial Alexa O’Brien December 5, 2013

Historical Examples

The Volunteers had deliberately left in abeyance controversies which the Labour Army wished to fight out in advance.
The Evolution of Sinn Fein Robert Mitchell Henry

“The punishment lies in abeyance for the present,” explained Hamish.
The Channings Mrs. Henry Wood

Thus a right or estate which is in abeyance is one regarded with open-mouthed expectancy.
The Romance of Words (4th ed.) Ernest Weekley

Perhaps they are sending Maria Angelina away to keep her in abeyance!
The Innocent Adventuress Mary Hastings Bradley

They were low enough to keep the black flies completely in abeyance, and the mosquito season was virtually over.
The Barren Ground Caribou of Keewatin Francis Harper

When a man is acting with his inclination, his will is in abeyance.
David Elginbrod George MacDonald

All this time religion was in abeyance, and only a weak echo of piety and asceticism remained.
The Son of a Servant August Strindberg

The subject stood in abeyance while she feasted and took thought.
The Wrong Woman Charles D. Stewart

His suspicions in abeyance for the moment because of his joy at seeing her alive and well arose with renewed force.
The Chalice Of Courage Cyrus Townsend Brady

noun
usually preceded by in or into. a state of being suspended or put aside temporarily
(usually preceded by in) (law) an indeterminate state of ownership, as when the person entitled to an estate has not been ascertained
n.

1520s, from Anglo-French abeiance “suspension,” also “expectation (especially in a lawsuit),” from Old French abeance “aspiration, desire,” noun of condition of abeer “aspire after, gape” from à “at” (see ad-) + ba(y)er “be open,” from Latin *batare “to yawn, gape” (see abash).

Originally in French a legal term, “condition of a person in expectation or hope of receiving property;” it turned around in English law to mean “condition of property temporarily without an owner” (1650s). Root baer is also the source of English bay (n.2) “recessed space,” as in “bay window.”