pleadings

Order VI Rule 1 CPC defines pleading as a plaint or a written statement. Rule 2 states the basic rule: pleadings must contain a concise statement of the material facts on which a party relies, but not the evidence by which they are to be proved, and not law. Fraud, misrepresentation, undue influence and similar charges must be pleaded with full particulars.

Pleadings define the dispute: issues are framed on them, and a party cannot ordinarily lead evidence or get relief on a case it did not plead. Pleadings may be amended under Order VI Rule 17, but after trial has commenced only if the party could not have raised the matter earlier with due diligence.

Example

The court refused to consider the plea of adverse possession because it was not raised in the pleadings and no issue was framed on it.

In Indian law

• Order VI Rules 1 and 2, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908
• Order VI Rule 17, CPC (amendment of pleadings)

See also

plaint · written statement · amendment of pleadings · issues

Read more in the study notes

• Judicial control: public and private law remedies, writ procedure and ouster clauses (Administrative Law)
• Methods of dispute resolution: adversarial, inquisitorial and ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• ADR and the Civil Procedure Code: section 89 and Afcons (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Arbitration: meaning, kinds and salient features of the 1996 Act (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Principal steps in arbitration and interim measures (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Mediation: meaning, the mediator and essential characteristics (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)