What is "nihil dicit"

Nihil \Ni"hil\, n. [L.] Nothing.

Nihil album [L., white nothing] (Chem.), oxide of zinc. See under Zinc.

Nihil debet [L., he owes nothing] (Law), the general issue in certain actions of debt.

Nihil dicit [L., he says nothing] (Law), a declinature by the defendant to plead or answer.
--Tomlins.

n. (context legal English) A declinature by the defendant to plead or answer.

Nihil dicit is Latin for "he says nothing"; a judgment for want of a plea. The name of a judgment which a judge may render against a defendant who failed to plead and failed to answer a plaintiff's declaration or complaint within the prescribed time limit. The defendant failed to say why the court should not issue the judgment against him. The failure to say constitutes an admission of the justice of the cause of action against the defendant; it does so more strongly than a mere default.