PLEA

In old English law. A suit or action. Thus, the power to “hold pleas” is the power to take cognizance of actions or suits; so “common pleas” are actions or suits between private persons. And this meaning of the word still appears in the modern declarations, where it is stated, e.g., that the defendant “has been summoned to answer the plaintiff in a plea of debt.” In common law practice. A pleading; any one in the series of pleadings. More particularly, the first pleading on the part of the defendant. In the strictest sense, the answer which the defendant in an action at law makes to the plaintiffs declaration, and in which he sets up matter of fact as defense, thus distinguished from a demurrer, which interposes objections on grounds of law. In equity. A spacial answer showing or relying upon one or more things as a cause why the suit should be either dismissed or delayed or barred. Mitf. Eq. Pi. 219; Coop. Bq. PI. 223. A short statement, in response to a bill in equity, of facts which, if inserted in the bill, would render it demurrable; while an answer is a complete statement of the defendant’s case, and contains answers to any interrogatories the plaintiff may have administered. Hunt, Eq. pt 1, c. 3. Affirmative plea. One which sets up a single fact, not appearing in the bill, or sets up a number of circumstances all tending to establish a single fact, which fact, if existing, destroys the complainant’s case. Potts v. Potts (N. J. Ch.) 42 Atl. 1055. Anomalous plea. One which is partly affirmative and partly negative. Bad plea. One which is unsound or insufficient in form or substance, or which does not technically answer or correspond with the pleading which preceded it in the action. Common pleas. Common causes or suits; civil actions brought and prosecuted between subjects or citizens, as distinguished from pleas of the crown or criminal cases. Counter plea. A plea to some matter incidental to the main object of the suit, and out of the direct line of pleadings. In the more ancient system of pleading, counter plea was applied to what was, in effect, a replication to aid prayer, (q. v.;) that is, where a tenant for Ufa or other limited interest in land, having an action brought against him in respect to the title to such land, prayed in aid of the lord or reversioner for his better defense, that which the demandant alleged against either request was called a “counter plea.” Cowell. Dilatory pleas. See Dilatory. Double plea. One having the technical fault of duplicity; one consisting of several distinct and independent matters alleged to the7 same point and requiring different answers.’False plea. A sham plea. See infra. And see People T. McCumber, 18 N. Y. 321, 72 Am. Dec. 515; Pierson v. Evans, 1 Wend. (N. Y.) 30. Foreign plea. A plea objecting to the jurisdiction of_ a judge, on the ground that he had not cognizance of the subject matter of the suit. Cowell.Negative plea. One which does not -undertake to answer the various allegations of the bill, but specifically denies some particular fact or matter the existence of which is essential to entitle the complainant to any relief. See Potts v. Potts (N. J. Ch.) 42 Atl. 1056. Peremptory pleas. “Pleas in bar” are so termed in contradistinction to that class of pleas called “dilatory pleas.” The former, viz., peremptory pleas, are usually pleaded to the merits of the action, with the view of raising a material issue between the parties; while the latter class, viz., dilatory pleas, are generally pleaded with a view of retarding the plaintiff’s proceedings, and not for the purpose qf raising an issue upon which the parties may go to trial and settle the point in dispute. Peremptory pleas are also called “pleas in bar,” while dilatory pleas are said to be in abatement only. Brown. Plea in abatement. In practice. A plea which goes to abate the plaintiff’s action ; that is, to suspend or put it off for the present. 3. Bl. Comm. 301; Hurst v. Everett (C. C.) 21 Fed. 221; Wilson v. Winchester & P. R. Co. (C. C.) 82 Fed. 18; Middlebrook v. Ames, 5 Stew. & P. (Ala.) 166. Plea in bar. In practice. A plea which goes to bar the plaintiff’s action; that is, to defeat it absolutely and entirely. 1 Burrill, Pr. 162; 3 Bl. Comm. 303; Rawson v. Knight, 71 Me. 102; Norton v. Winter, 1 Or. 48, 62 Am. Dec. 297; Wilson v. Knox County, 132 Mo. 387, 34 S. W. 45. Plea in discharge. One which admits that the plaintiff had a cause of action, but shows that it was discharged by some subsequent or collateral matter, as, payment or accord and satisfaction. Nichols v. Cecil, 106 Tenn. 455, 61 S. W. 768. Plea in reconvention. In the civil law. A plea which sets up new matter, not in defense to the action, but by way of cross complaint, set off, or counterclaim. Plea of release. One which admits the cause of action, but sets forth a release subsequently executed by the party authorized to release the claim. Landis v. Morrissey, 69 Cal. 83, 10 Pac. 258. Plea side. The plea side of a court is that branch or department of the court which entertains or takes cognizance of civil actions and suits, as distinguished from its criminal or crown department. Thus the court of king’s bench is said to have a plea side and a crown or criminal side; the one branch or department of it being devoted to the cognizance of civil actions, the other to criminal proceedings and matters peculiarly concerning the crown. So the court of exchequer is said to have a plea side and a crown side; the one being appropriated to civil actions, the other to matters of revenue. Brown. Pleas of the crown. In English law. A phrase now employed to signify criminal causes, in which the king is a party. Formerly it signified royal causes for offenses of a greater magnitude than mere misdemeanors. Pleas roll. In English practice. A record upon which are entered all the pleadings in a cause, in their regular order, and the issue. Pure plea. In equity pleading. One which relies wholly on some matter outside those referred to in the bill; as a plea of a release on a settled account. Sham plea. A false plea; a plea of false or fictitious matter, subtly drawn so as to entrap an opponent, or create delay. 8 Chit. Pr. 729, 730. A vexatious or false defense, resorted to under the old system of pleading for purposes of delay and annoyance. Steph. PI. 383. Mr. Chitty defines sham pleas to be pleas so palpably and manifestly untrue that the court will assume them to be so; pleas manifestly absurd. When answers or defenses admit of lawyer like argument, such as courts should listen to, they are not “sham,” in the sense of the statute. When, it needs argument to prove that an answer or demurrer is frivolous, it is not frivolous, and should not be stricken off. To warrant this summary mode of disposing of a defense, the mere reading of the pleadings should be sufficient to disclose, without deliberation and without a doubt, that the defense is sham or irrelevant. Cottrill v. Cramer, 40 Wis. 559. Special plea. A special kind of plea in bar, distinguished by this name from the general issue, and consisting usually of some new affirmative matter, though it may also be in the form of a traverse or denial. See Steph. PI. 52, 162; Allen v. New Haven & N. Co., 49 Conn. 245. Special plea in bar. One which advances new matter. It differs from the general, in this: that the latter denies some material allegation, but never advances new matter. Gould, PI. c. 2,