Nil debet
NIL DEBET, pleading. The general issue in debt,6r simple contract. It is in the following form: And the said D, by E F, his attorney, comes and defends the wrong and injury, when, &c. and says, that he does not owe the said sum of money above demanded, or any part thereof, in manner and form as the said A B hath above complained. And of this the said C, D puts himself upon the country." When, in debt on specially, the deed is the only inducement to the action, the general issue is nil debet. Stephens on Pleading, 174, n.; Dane's Ab. Index, h.t.