LEGAL DRAFTING

MEANING OF PLEADING

When the suit or case is brought in the court of law, we have to give facts of the case in the court, and these submissions what we give in court of law are technically called pleading.

Pleadings are the statements in writing drawn up and filed up by each party to the case, stating what his contentions will be at the trial and giving up all such details as his opponent needs to know in order to prepare his case in answer.

One who puts his case first ie., in the form of plaint (civil proceedings) is called Plaintiff and the other one who has to reply the facts of the plaint and puts his case in the form of Written statement is called defendant.

PLEADING IN A SUIT

As a rule , there are only two pleadings in a suit,viz:

A statement of claim , called the Plaint, in which plaintiff sets out his cause of action with all necessary particulars; A statement of defence is called the Written Statement, in which the defendant deals with every material fact alleged by the plaintiff in the plaint and states any new facts which tells in his favour , adding such legal objections as he wishes to take to the claim.

In this way pleading may mean plaint and written statement both.

Object of pleading

The whole of the object of pleading is to give fair notice to each party of what the opponent case is and to ascertain with precision , the points on which the parties agree and those on which they differ , and thus to bring the parties to definite issue.

FUNDAMENTAL RULES OF PLEADING

- That every pleading must state facts not law; - that it must state all material facts and the material facts only; - that it must state only the facts on which the parties pleading rely, and not the evidence by which they are to be proved; - it must state facts concisely but with precision and certainty.

Following unnecessary facts to be omitted:

Matters

of law Matters of evidence Matters not alleged in the opponents pleading Matters presumed by law the performance of condition precedent the words of the documents Matters not yet material to the case

Order 7 of Civil Procedure Code makes provision regarding the particulars of the plaint. Rule 1 to 8 of Order 7 provides the particulars in a plaint Rule 9 lays down the procedure of plaint being admitted. Rule 10 provides for the return of the plaint Rules 11 to 13 deals with rejection of plaint Rules 14 to 18 of Order 7 deals the provisions relating to production of documents.

Plaint can be divided in 3 parts:

Part I- The heading and Title Part-II- Body of plaint Part-III- Relief claimed.

TITLE OF THE PLAINT

Order 7 Rule 1-A provides that the name of the court should be mentioned first in which the suit is brought. Section 9 of CPC provides that the court shall have jurisdiction to try all suits of Civil nature except suits of which their cognizance is either expressly or impliedly barred.

Court in which suits to be instituted (Sec15) Every suit shall be instituted in the court of the lowest grade competent to try it.

A MODEL FORM OF A PLAINT

Title of the plaint

The

name of the court In the Court of ___________at____________ In the Honble High Court of Judicature at Allahabad. In the Court of Civil Judge, Bombay.

SUIT NUMBER

Second line of the plaint gives the suit number. In the plaint we only need to write the year
Suit

No..of 1971 Title Suit Noof 2011 Original Suit No..of 2013

IN THE COURT OF CIVIL JUDGE,PATNA Suit No..of 2010.

PARTIES NAME

PARTIES ARE DIVIDED INTO TWO PARTS-ONE IS PLAINTIFF AND THE OTHER IS DEFENDANT . FULL DISCRIPTION OF THE PARTIES IS NEEDED IN THE PLAINT FULL DESCRIPTION INCLUDES NAME OF FATHER, AGE OF THE PERSON AND THE COMPLETE POSTAL ADDRESS OF THE PERSON

Next to the heading ,should be written the title or cause title consisting of The name , description and place of residence of each plaintiff; and The name, description and place of residence of each defendant.

IF THERE ARE MORE THAN ONE PLAINTIFF THEY SHOULD BE NUMBERED LIKE 1&2&3&.. SIMILARLY IN CASE OF MORE THAN ONE DEFENDANT THEY SHOULD BE NUMBERED LIKE 1&2&. AND THE COMPLETE ADDRESS OF ALL THE PERSONS IS ESSENTIAL

A MINOR CANNOT SUE OR BE SUED EXCEPT THROUGH A NEXT FRIEND OR GUARDIAN

Nirmal Kumar, aged about 9 yrs, s/o Krishan Kumar through Santosh Kumar s/o Hari Sahnkar,his next friend r/o Village & P.O. Bidholi, District DehradunPlaintiff Versus A, aged about 30 yrs, son of B, r/o Prem Nagar, New Delhi Defendant

Part II Body of the Plaint

After stating above particulars we come to a sentence which is written just before we start narrating the story of the case and this sentence is as follows which is written in different styles: (i) The above named plaintiff states as follows: (ii) The plaintiff named above submits as under: (iii)The humble petition of the plaintiff most respectfully states as follows:

In the Court of Civil Judge,Lucknow. Suit Noof 2011 Jagmohan Singh s/o Prabhu Singh a/a 35 yrs r/o 101 Aliganj , Lucknow .Plaintiff. Versus Ram Singh s/o Shyam Singh a/a 40 yrs r/o 77 Mahanagar, Lucknow ..Defendant The humble petition of the plaintiff above mentioned most respectfully states as follows:

BODY OF THE PLAINT

1.

Narration of Facts
paragraph must contain only one

One

fact all facts must be written in the third person only instead of I we must write plaintiff All facts must be stated in a historical manner.

Cause of Action

After narrating the whole story of the case or matter we give in one paragraph cause of action Cause of Action means the bundle of facts that necessitated the filing of the suit along with date time and relevant topography.

The date mentioned for the cause of action shows that the suit has been filed within time according to the Indian Limitation Act 1963.
Generally from the bottom it is the third paragraph which consist of cause of action.

JURISDICTION OF THE COURT

16. Suits to be instituted where subject-matter situate? Subject to the pecuniary or other limitations prescribed by any law, suits? (a) for the recovery of immovable property with or without rent or profits, (b) for the partition of immovable property, (c) for foreclosure, sale or redemption in the case of a mortgage of or charge upon immovable property, (d) for the determination of any other right to or interest in immovable property,

(e) for compensation for wrong to immovable property, (f) for the recovery of movable property actually under distraint or attachment, All such types of suit shall be instituted in the Court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the property is situate.

VALUATION

The plaintiff must separately and distinctly give in his plaint the valuation of his claim for the purposes of court fee and of jurisdiction, though both may be stated in one paragraph

For Court Fee : The valuation for the purpose of court fee is required in those cases only in which court-fee is charged, under the Court Fees Act on the valuation ,ie., ad valorem For jurisdiction : valuation of claim for the purpose of jurisdiction in order to determine whether the suit is within the pecuniary jurisdiction of the court and also for determining the forum of appeal.

Part III-RELIEF

In a suit different kinds of relief can be claimed., eg., recovery of debt, damages, or movable property, possession of, or declaration of title to ,immovable property, declaration of any right, specific performance, injunction, appointment of receiver etc.,

Common relief prayed for are as follows:

(a)

a decree in favour of the plaintiff be awarded against the contesting defendants. (b) cost of the suit be awarded in favour of the plaintiff. (c ) any such other and further relief, as the court may deem fit, and proper be awarded in favour of the plaintiff

VERIFICATION

Verification is the last part of the plaint Order VI Rule 15 CPC Every pleading shall be verified at the foot by the party pleading

The person shall verifying shall specify by reference to the numbered paragraphs of pleading, what he verifies of his own knowledge and what he verifies upon the information received and believed to be true
The verification shall be signed by the person making it and shall state the date on which and the place on which it was signed.