Pleadings
Disputes & Litigation

Pleadings is an antiquated word that remains in use which used to be describe documents filed by the parties to litigation in English Courts to set out the facts (and sometimes the law) that the respective parties rely on in the dispute.

A pleading is a formal document that may allege, deny, admit, or not admit to allegations of the other party or parties to the litigation. They serve to define and narrow the issues in litigation, by requiring the parties to clearly and concisely set out their respective positions with regard to the dispute.

Each of the following documents may be described as a pleading:

1. particulars of claim;
2. defence;
3. counterclaim
4. reply to defence
5. defence to counterclaim
6. reply to defence to counterclaim
7. Reponses to requests for clarification and further information, to each of the foregoing documents.

Using modern terminology, each of these documents should be referred to as a statement of case.

There are strict rules for the content of pleadings. Pleadings must contain statements of fact, not argumentative material, disclose a cause of action, and not be embarrassing in the sense that the other party or parties will know what the case is that they must answer. Cost penalties may be imposed by a court for failing to comply with the requirements for such documents, which are set out in the Civil Procedure Rules. For particular requirements of the documents set out above, see their individual listings.

It may be the case that each of the documents referred to above may need to be amended during the course of legal proceedings. Taking particulars of claim as an example, the usual convention is to name the first amend version “Amended Particulars of Claim”, and the second amended version “Further Amended Particulars of Claim”.