Definition of Extinguishment
The destruction or cancellation of a right, power, contract, or estate. The annihilation of a collateral thing or subject in the subject itself out of which it is derived. See Cancellation.
"Extinguishment” is sometimes confounded with "merger,” though there is a clear distinction between them. “Merger” is only a mode of extinguishment and applies to estates only under particular circumstances; but “extinguishment” is a term of general application to rights, as well as estates. “Extinguishment” connotes the end of a thing, precluding the existence of future life therein; in “mergers” there is a carrying on of the substance of the thing, except that it is merged into and becomes a part of a separate thing with a new identity. McRoberts v. McRoberts, 177 Okl. 156, 57 P.2d 1175, 1177.
That's the definition of Extinguishment in Black's Law Dictionary 6th Edition. Courtesy of Cekhukum.com.
