The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Contentious \Con*ten"tious\, a. [L. contentiosus: cf. F.
   contentieux.]
   1. Fond of contention; given to angry debate; provoking
      dispute or contention; quarrelsome.
      [1913 Webster]

            Despotic and contentious temper.      --Macaulay.
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   2. Relating to contention or strife; involving or
      characterized by contention. --Spenser.
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            More cheerful, though not less contentious, regions.
                                                  --Brougham.
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   3. (Law) Contested; litigated; litigious; having power to
      decide controversy.
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   Contentious jurisdiction (Eng. Eccl. Law), jurisdiction
      over matters in controversy between parties, in
      contradistinction to voluntary jurisdiction, or that
      exercised upon matters not opposed or controverted.

   Syn: Quarrelsome; pugnacious; dissentious; wrangling;
        litigious; perverse; peevish. -- Con*ten"tious*ly,
        adv. -- Con*ten"tious*ness, n.
        [1913 Webster]

Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

CONTENTIOUS JURISDICTION, eccl. law. In those cases where there is an action
or judicial process, and it consists in hearing and determining the matter
between party and party, it is said there is contentious jurisdiction, in
contradistinction to voluntary jurisdiction, which is exercised in matters
that require no judicial proceeding, as in taking probate of wills, granting
letters of administration, and the like. 3 Bl. Com. 66.