Chose in action

(Law)	See Chose.
	a thing of which one has not possession or actual enjoyment, but only a right to it, or a right to demand it by action at law, and which does not exist at the time in specie; a personal right to a thing not reduced to possession, but recoverable by suit at law; as a right to recover money due on a contract, or damages for a tort, which can not be enforced against a reluctant party without suit.

See also: Action, Chose

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by G. & C. Merriam Co.