Abate is to eliminate or nullify.
The term is often used in relation to the elimination of a nuisance. For example, California Civil Code § 3491 provides that one of the “remedies against a public nuisance [is] abatement.” In Flahive v. City of Dana Point, a California Appellate Court, considered whether the City properly determined that appellant’s garage was a public nuisance, which she converted into two studio apartments without permits, and whether they had the authority to abate it. The Court confirmed that the City possessed the power to determine what constitutes a public nuisance, found that the City followed the procedural requirements, and therefore that it had the power to abate appellant’s garage.
[Last updated in November of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]