Watchfulness; precaution ; a proper degree of activity and promptness in pursuing one’s rights or guarding them from Infraction, or in making or discovering opportunities for the enforcement of one’s lawful claims and demands. It Is the opposite of laches. Vigilantibus et non dormientibns jnra snbveninnt. The laws aid those who are vigilant not those who sleep upon their rights. 2 Inst. 690; Merchants’ Bank of Newburyport, President, etc., of, v. Stevenson, 7 Allen (Mass.) 493; Broom, Max. 892.