DECLARATION, formerly, in an action at English law, a precise statement of the cause of action. Under the system of pleading established by the Judicature act 1875, the declaration has been superseded by a statement of claim setting forth the facts on which the plaintiff relies. Declarations are now in use only in certain local courts of record, and in those of the United States and some British colonies in which the Common Law system of pleading survives. In the United States a declaration is termed a "complaint," which is the first pleading in an action. It is divided into parts—the title of the court and term; the venue or county in which the facts are alleged to have occurred; the commencement, which contains a statement of the names of the parties and the character in which they appear; the state ment of the cause of action ; and the conclusion or claim for relief. (See PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE.) The term is also used in other English legal connections ; e.g.,
