pleading

plead the Fifth (Amendment)

1. To refuse to testify against oneself in court, in accordance with the rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The alleged kingpin of the east coast drug cartel simply pled the Fifth after every question the prosecution put to him.2. By extension, to refuse to answer a question or provide information, especially if doing so may incriminate or embarrass oneself. Just plead the Fifth if your mom asks where you've been all night! A: "So, I hear things got pretty messy at the bar last night." B: "Yeah, I'm going to have to plead the Fifth Amendment on that one!"See also: fifth, plead

plead for

1. To beg someone or appeal in earnest to someone's good nature for something to happen or be granted. The prisoner threw himself at the king's feet, pleading for his life. Daniel pleaded for a bit more time to finish the project, but the boss went ahead and fired him for the delay.2. To beg someone or appeal in earnest to someone's good nature for someone to be spared some fate or treatment. The mother pleaded for her son, but the king had him executed on the spot. She pleaded for her brother when their mother threatened to whip him with the belt.See also: plead

plead not guilty (to something)

To formally deny that one is guilty (of some crime or accusation). The defendant pleaded not guilty, and he will go to trial where he will face the possibility of life in prison, or even death. My client pleads not guilty, your honor.See also: guilty, not, plead

plead guilty (to something)

To formally admit and declare that one is guilty (of some crime or accusation). The defendant avoided a possible death sentence by pleading guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter. My client pleads guilty, your honor.See also: guilty, plead

plead to (something)

To formally admit and declare that one is guilty of a particular crime. The defendant pleaded to manslaughter to avoid a murder conviction.See also: plead

plead down to (something)

1. To formally admit and declare that one is guilty of a lesser criminal charge. The defendant pleaded down to a manslaughter charge to avoid the death penalty. He pleaded down to a single charge of perjury in exchange for cooperating with the FBI's investigation of the drug cartel.2. To receive a lower punishment or prison sentence by formally admitting to a lesser criminal charge. She pled down to 18 months in prison. You might be able to plead down to 10 years, but if you go to trial, you're looking at life in prison.3. To negotiate a deal with prosecutors or a judge in which a guilty plea is formally made for a lesser criminal charge on someone else's behalf. In this usage, a noun or pronoun is used between "plead" and "down." The defense attorney managed to plead him down to a misdemeanor. He pleaded his client down to a reckless endangerment charge.4. To negotiate a deal with prosecutors or a judge on someone else's behalf so that they a lower punishment or prison sentence is formally admitting to a lesser criminal charge. In this usage, a noun or pronoun is used between "plead" and "down." I've built a good rapport with the judge overseeing your case, and I think we might be able to plead you down to community service. My attorney pled me down to 15 years in a minimum security prison, which sure as hell beats the prospect of life behind bars.See also: down, plead

plead with (one)

To beg one or appeal in earnest to one's good nature (for something or to do something). I pleaded with him to reconsider, but he said his mind was made up. Don't go pleading with your mother for more ice cream—you've already had enough!See also: plead

plead for someone

to beg for someone to be spared. Tom pleaded for Dave, but it was no use. Dave was found guilty. She pleaded for her husband, but the judge sentenced him to ten years in prison.See also: plead

plead for something

to beg for something. I don't want to have to plead for what's already mine. The children were pleading for ice cream, so we got some for them.See also: plead

Pleading

Related to Pleading: special pleading

Pleading

Asking a court to grant relief. The formal presentation of claims and defenses by parties to a lawsuit. The specific papers by which the allegations of parties to a lawsuit are presented in proper form; specifically the complaint of a plaintiff and the answer of a defendant plus any additional responses to those papers that are authorized by law.

Different systems of pleading have been organized generally to serve four functions: (1) to give notice of the claim or defense; (2) to reveal the facts of the case; (3) to formulate the issues that have to be resolved; and (4) to screen the flow of cases into a particular court. Different systems may rely on the pleadings to accomplish these purposes or may use the pleadings along with other procedural devices, such as discovery, Pretrial Conference among the parties, or Summary Judgment.

Originally in ancient England, the parties simply presented themselves to a tribunal and explained their dispute. This worked well enough in the local courts and in the feudal courts where a lord heard cases involving his tenants, but the great common-law courts of the king demanded more formality. From the end of the fourteenth to the middle of the sixteenth century, the royal courts began more and more to demand written pleadings that set out a party's position in a case. Predictably the shift resulted in more formality and more rigid technical requirements that were difficult to satisfy. Thus the course of Common-Law Pleading was perilous. A claim or defense that did not exactly fit the requirements of the common-law Forms of Action was thrown out with no opportunity to amend it and come back into court.

Some relief was offered by the courts of Equity, which were not bound by the same complex system of pleading. Beginning in the fourteenth century, the authority of such courts increased in proportion to the rigidity of the common-law pleading. Equity was the conscience of the judicial system and was charged with doing complete justice regardless of technicalities. Cases were tried before a single judge without a jury, and the judge could allow different claims and various parties all in one proceeding. Some pretrial discovery of the other party's evidence was permitted. The initial pleading by a petitioner in equity was the bill, but states that now have the same procedures for law and equity specify the complaint as the first pleading in all kinds of civil actions today.

Despite criticism, common-law pleading endured in England and in the United States for several centuries. Beginning in 1848, some states replaced it by law with a new system called Code Pleading. The statutes enacting code pleading abolished the old forms of action and set out a procedure that required the plaintiff simply to state in a complaint facts that warranted legal relief. A defendant was authorized to resist the plaintiff's demand by denying the truth of the facts in the complaint or by stating new facts that defeated them. The defendant's response is called an answer.

In 1938, federal courts began using a modern system of pleading set out in the federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This system has been so effective that many states have enacted substantially the same rules of pleading. A pleading by a plaintiff or defendant under these rules is intended simply to give the other party adequate notice of the claim or defense. This notice must give the adversary enough information so that she can determine the evidence that she wants to uncover during pretrial discovery and then adequately prepare for trial. Because of this under-lying purpose, modern federal pleading is also called notice pleading. The other objectives of earlier kinds of pleading are accomplished by different procedural devices provided for in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Cross-references

Civil Procedure.

pleading

n. 1) every legal document filed in a lawsuit, petition, motion and/or hearing, including complaint, petition, answer, demurrer, motion, declaration, and memorandum of points and authorities (written argument citing precedents and statutes). Laypersons should be aware that, except possibly for petitions from prisoners, pleadings are required by state or federal statutes and/or court rules to be of a particular form and format: typed, signed, dated, with the name of the court, title and number of the case, name, address and telephone number of the attorney or person acting for himself/herself (in pro per) included. 2) the act of preparing and presenting legal documents and arguments. Good pleading is an art: clear, logical, well-organized, comprehensive, and including all essential facts. (See: plea, plead, complaint, answer, demurrer)

PLEADING, practice. The statement in a logical, and legal form, of the facts which constitute the plaintiff's cause of action, or the defendant's ground of defence; it is the formal mode of alleging that on the record, which would be the support, or the defence of the party in evidence. 8 T. R. 159; Dougl. 278; Com. Dig. Pleader, A; Bac. Abr. Pleas and Pleading; Cowp. 682-3. Or in the language of Lord Coke, good pleading consists in good matter pleaded in good form, in apt time, and due order. Co. Lit. 303. In a general sense, it is that which either party to a suit at law alleges for himself in a court, with respect to the subject-matter of the cause, and the mode in which it is carried on, including the demand which is made by the plaintiff; but in strictness, it is no more than setting forth those facts or arguments which show the justice or legal sufficiency of the plaintiff's demand, and the defendant's defence, without including the statement of the demand itself, which is contained in the declaration or count. Bac. Abr. Pleas and Pleading.
2. The science of pleading was designed only to render the facts of each party's case plain and intelligible, and to bring the matter in dispute between them to judgment. Steph. Pl. 1. It is, as has been well observed, admirably calculated for analyzing a cause, and extracting, like the roots of an equation, the true points in dispute; and referring them with all imaginable simplicity, to the court and jury. 1 Hale's C. L. 301, n
3. The parts of pleading have been considered as arrangeable under two heads; first, the regular, or those which occur, in the ordinary course of a suit; and secondly, the irregular, or collateral, being those which are occasioned by mistakes in the pleadings on either side.
4. The regular parts are, 1st. The declaration or count. 2d. The plea, which is either to the jurisdiction of the court, or suspending the action, a's in the case of a parol demurrer, or in abatement, or in bar of the action, or in replevin, an avowry or cognizance. 3d. The replication, and, in case of an evasive plea, a new assignment, or in replevin the plea in bar to the avowry or cognizance. 4th. The rejoinder, or, in replevin, the replication to the plea in bar. 5th. The sur-rejoinder, being in replevin, the rejoinder. 6th. The rebutter. 7th. The sur-rebutter. Vin. Abr. Pleas and Pleading, C; Bac. Abr. Pleas and Pleadings, A. 8th. Pleas puis darrein continuance, when the matter of defence arises pending the suit.
6. The irregular or collateral parts of Pleading are stated to be, 1st. Demurrers to any art of the pleadings above mentioned. 2dly. Demurrers to evidence given at trials. 3dly. Bills of exceptions. 4thly. Pleas in scire facias. And, 5thly. Pleas in error. Vin. Abr. Pleas and Pleadings, C.; Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.

PLEADING, SPECIAL. By special pleading is meant the allegation of special or new matter, as distinguished from a direct denial of matter previously alleged on the opposite side. Gould on Pl. c. 1, s. 18.

pleading

plead·ing

pleading

plead•ing

pleading

plead the Fifth (Amendment)

plead for

plead not guilty (to something)

plead guilty (to something)

plead to (something)

plead down to (something)

plead with (one)

plead for someone

plead for something

Pleading

Pleading

Cross-references

pleading

pleading

Synonyms for pleading

noun (law) a statement in legal and logical form stating something on behalf of a party to a legal proceeding

Related Words

adj begging

Synonyms