The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Transitory \Tran"si*to*ry\, a. [L. transitorius: cf. F.
   transitoire. See Transient.]
   Continuing only for a short time; not enduring; fleeting;
   evanescent.
   [1913 Webster]

         Comfort and succor all those who, in this transitory
         life, are in trouble.                    --Bk. of Com.
                                                  Prayer.
   [1913 Webster]

         It was not the transitory light of a comet, which
         shines and glows for a wile, and then . . . vanishes
         into nothing.                            --South.
   [1913 Webster]

   Transitory action (Law), an action which may be brought in
      any county, as actions for debt, and the like; -- opposed
      to local action. --Blackstone. Bouvier.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: transient; short-lived; brief. See Transient.
        [1913 Webster]

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

TRANSITORY ACTION, pract., plead. Actions are transitory when the venue may
lawfully be laid in any county, though the cause of action arose out of the
jurisdiction of the court. Vide Actions, and 1 Chit. Pl. 273; Com. Dig.
Actions, N 12; Cowp. 161; 9 Johns. R. 67; 14 Johns. R. 134; 3 Bl. Com. 294;
3 Bouv. Inst. n. 2645. Vide Bac. Ab. Actions local and transitory.