I’ve often heard the term that one side in a conflict will ‘sue for peace’.
Just how does this work & what are the expectations/requirements on both sides of the table?
Form what I have been able to gather, one side essentialy capitulates to all the demands of the other to avoid having the stuffing beaten out of them further.
Am I on track? (Google & a search here & on the achive turned up nothing useful)
Thanks
I don’t know the answer, but I was thinking of asking this exact question this morning. I heard the phrase yet again on a History Channel documentary about the Japanese occupation of the Aleutian Islands during the Second World War.
Well, first off, I think the expression is using the word ‘sue/suing’ in a different aspect than the legal one we’re familiar with; more as a synonym for ‘make petition/plead’
With that piece in place, I think that you’re definitely on the right track Vagus… it was a conventional term that pretty much meant that one side was ready to cry uncle… not necessarily the same as an unconditional surrender, (or even a conditional surrender,) but a clear message that you’re ready to concede important demands to the other side if they JUST STOP ATTACKING YOU, ALREADY!! 
Not so much a “different” aspect as a more general aspect. A suit can represent any type of entreaty or pleading; nowadays we’re so used to pursuing (note the “sue” in “pursue”) our entreaties through the courts that we tend to think “lawsuit” when we hear “suit”. However, the more general usage of the word still crops up in certain contexts, such as “suing for peace” (which doesn’t involve the courts) and sometimes even a “suit for marriage” (as in Victorian romance novels).