LEGAL DRAFTING

-Dr. Shikha Dimri

 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.
FUNCTIONS OF PLEADING

 - To secure that both the contending parties shall

know what are the real points of controversy
between them in order that they may have
opportunity of bringing forward such evidence or
to submit such argument as may be appropriate
to determine such points at issue between them.
 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.
 FORM OF SUIT
 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 Hon’ble 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 2014
 Title Suit No………………of 2011
IN THE COURT OF CIVIL JUDGE,PATNA
Suit No………………..of 2014.
 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 Late Krishan

Kumar through Santosh Kumar s/o Hari Sahnkar,
his next friend r/o Village & P.O. Bidholi, District
Dehradun ………………………………Plaintiff.
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 No…………of 2014
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

One paragraph must contain only 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 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.