The art of drafting the pleadings has not yet fully developed in spite of the increase in the civil litigation. As a matter of fact, the art of pleading should be the foundation course and great emphasis should be laid on this paper. Because of this absence of rigorous training, the young lawyers often indulge in prolixity rather than clarity and conciseness. Many dead-sure-win cases drag on for years in the courts only because of faulty drafting. Irrelevant matters, unnecessary details are often included and the facts placed before the lawyer by his client are not marshaled.
The result is that the martial facts are often mixed up with inessential matter. According to Lord Halsbury - "Where system of pleading may exist, the sole object of it is that each side may be fully alive to the questions that are about to be argued in order that they have an opportunity of bringing forward such evidence as may be appropriate to the issue" Pleading is an art, of course, and art which requires not only technical and linguistic skill but also an expert knowledge of the law on the given point brought before a lawyer. Even experienced lawyers and attorneys are not infallible and sometimes they also make mistakes. However, in the matter of pleadings longer experience and a great linguistic acumen are both essential ingredients. What ultimately matters is how clearly and systematically have the facts been presented before the court of law. It is a matter of common knowledge that when a person comes to seek the assistance of the court of law in any matter, he has to prepare a statement of his claims, and the facts on which such claims are founded. Such statements fully drawn up, setting out all contentions, are called "pleadings". Thus pleadings are the foundation of all sorts of litigation; no judicial system in the world can do justice in any matter unless and until the court of justice is fully aware as to the claims and contentions of the plaintiff and of the counter claims and defences of the defendant. In the ancient times when the king was the fountainhead of all justice, a petitioner used to appear before the king in person and place all facts pertaining to his case before his majesty. After such oral hearing, the king used to summon the other party and thereafter listen to the defence statements put forward by the person so summoned. There used to be same sort of cross examination or cross questioning of the parties by the king himself.
Thereafter, the decision was announced. There was hardly any system of written statements; all the same "pleadings" did exist, although they were oral. The king and his courtiers kept on what may be called a mental record of the proceedings. Perhaps only r. few serious and otherwise significant cases, the decisions were recorded. With the passage of time, judicial system underwent a change.
The administration at justice was separated from the executive and assigned to the court of law. Complexity of resulted in enormous litigation, and oral hearing of the ancient times became almost impossible. Scribes used to keep records of all the proceedings Gradually this procedure was also abandoned and the litigants were allowed to bring their claims and contetions duly drawn up to fie them before the Honb6e courts. When this change exactly happened, it is difficult to say. Experience was a better teacher; and the changes in court procedure took place not only in the light of the past experience but also in the face of expediency. Written proceedings made the task of the courts of law easier and less complicated than the earlier oral proceedings. By the turn of 19th century the procedure of pleadings has become fairly elaborate and systematized. When the civil codes came to be drafted, the principles of pleadings were also given statutory form. Vide order VI Rule 1 "pleading". Shall mean plaint or written statement. Mogha has elaborated this definition when he remarked that "pleadings are statements, written, drawn up and filed by each party to a case, stating what his contentions will be at the trial and giving all such details as his opponent needs to know in order to prepare his case in answer".
The document stating the cause of action and other necessary details and particulars in support of the claim of the plaintiff is called the "plaint". The defence statement containing all material facts and other details filed by the defendant is called the "written statement". The written statement is filed by the defendant as an answer to the contentions of the plaintiff and it contains all materials and other objections which the defendant might place before the court to admit or deny the claim of the plaintiff. Pleadings are, therefore, the foundation of any litigation, and must be very carefully drafted. Any material omission in the pleading can entail serious cones quinces, because at the evidence and argument stages, parties are not permitted to depart from the points and issues raised in the pleadings, nor can a party be allowed to raise subsequently, except by way of amendment, any new ground of claim or any allegation of fact inconsistent with the previous pleadings of the party pleading the same.
In some cases the court may allow amendment of the plaint or the written statement on the application of a party. This can be done under order VI Rule 17 of Civil Procedure Code. Another case of departure is where a party pleads for set-off. Pleadings contain material facts, contentions and claim of the plaintiff, and the material facts, contentions, denials or admissions of claims by the defendants. There may also be counter claims by the defendant which may of two categories -
(i) a claim to set-off against the plaintiff's demand is covered by order 8 Rule 6, and
(ii) and independent counter claims which is not exactly set off but falls under some other statute.
While the former is permitted to be pleaded
by the courts, the latter is not, but when the defendant files such counter
claims, the written statements is treated as a plaint.
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