PLEADING. In Chancery Practice. Consists in making the formal written alle gations or statements of the respective par ties on the record to maintain the suit, or to defeat it, of which, when contested in mat ters of fact, they propose to offer proofs, and in matters of law to offer arguments to the court. Story, Eq. Plead. 4, n. The sub stantial object of pleading is the same, but the forms and rules of pleading are very different, at law and in equity.
In Civil Practice. The stating in a logical and legal form the facts which consti tute 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 constitutes the support or the defence of the party in, evidence. 3 Term, 159 ; Dougl. 278 ; Comyns, Dig. Pleader (A) ; Bacon, Abr. Pleas and Reading; Cowp. 682. Pleading is used to denote the act of making the pleadings.
2. The object of pleading is to pecure a clear and distinct statement of the ctaims of each party, so that the controverted points may be exactly known, examined, and de cided, and the appropriate remedy or punish ment administered. See Cowp. 682 ; Dougl. 159. Good pleading consists in good matter pleaded in good form, in apt time and due order. Coke, Litt. 303. Good matter includes all facts and circumstances necessary to con stitute the cause of complaint or ground of defence, and no more. It does not include arguments or matters of law. But some matters of fact need not be stated, though it be necessary to establish them as facts. Such are, among others, facts of which th,e court,s take notice by virtue of their office: as, the time of accession of the sovereign, 2 Ld. Raym. 794 ; time and place of bolding par liament, 1 Senn& 131 ; public statutes and the facts they ascertain, 1 Term, 45, including ecclesiastical, civil, and marine laws, Ld. Rayrn. 338, but not private, 2 Dougl. 97, or foreign laws, 2 Carth. 273 ; 4 R. I. 523 ; common-law rights, duties, and general cus toms, Ld. Raym. 1542 ; Coke, Litt. 175 ; Croke Car. 561 ; the almanac, days of the
week, public holidays, etc., Salk. 269; 6 Mod. 81 ; 4 Dowl. 48 ; 4 Fla. 158 ; political divisions, Marsh. 124 ; Coke, 2d Inst. 557 ; 4 Barnew.
Ald. 242 ; 6 Ill. 73 ; the meaning of Eng lish words and terms of art in ordinary ac ceptation, 1 Rolle, Abr. 86, 525 ; their own course of proceedings, 1 Term, 118 ; 2 Lev. 176 ; 10 'Fick. Mass. 470 ; see 16 East, 39, and that of courts of general jurisdiction, 1 Saund. 73 ; 5 McLean, C. C. 167 ; 10 Pick. Mass. 470 ; 3 Bos. & P. 183; 1 Greenleaf, Ev. N 4-6 ; facts which the law presumes : as, the innocence of a party, illegality of an act, etc., 4 Maule & S. 105 ; 1 Barnew. & Ald. 463 ; 2 Wils. 147 ; 6 Johns. N. Y. 105 ; 16 East, 343 ; 16 Tex. 335 ; 6 Conn. 130 ; mat ters which the other party should plead, as being more within his knowledge, 1 Shars wood, Blackst. Comm. 293, n. ; 8 Term, 167 ; 2 H. Blackst. 530 ; 2 Johns. N. Y. 415 ; 9 Cal. 286 ; 1 Sandf. N. Y. 89 ; 3 Cow. N. Y. 96; mere matters of evidence of facts, 9 Coke, 96; Willes. 130 ; 25 Barb. N. Y. 457 ; 7 Tex. 603 ; 6 Blackf. Ind. 173; 1 N. Chipm.Yt. 293 ; unnecessary matter: as, a second breach of condition, where one is sufficient, .2 Johns. N. Y. 443 ; 1 Saund. 58, n. 1 ; 33 Miss. 474 ; 4 Ind. 409 ; 23 N. H. 415 ; 12 Barb. N. Y. 27 ; 2 Green, N. J. 577; see DUPLICITY, or intent to defraud, when the facts alleged con stitute fraud, 16 Tex. 335 ; see 3 Maule & S. 182 ; irrelevant matter, 1 Chitty, Plead. 209. Such matter may be rejected without damage to the plea, if wholly foreign to the case, or repugnant, 7 Johns. N. Y. 462 ; 3 Day, Conn. 472 ; 2 Mass. 283 ; 8 Serg. &R. Penn. 124 ; 11 Ala. 145 ; 16 Tex. 656 ; 7 Cal. 348 ; 23 Conn. 134; 1 Du. N. Y. 242; 6 Ark. 468; 8 Ala. N. s. 320 ; but in many cases the matter must be proved as stated, if stated. 7 Johns. N. Y. 321 ; 3 Day, Conn. 283 ; Phillipps, Ev. 160. The matter must be true and suscepti ble of proof ; but legal fictions may be stated as facts. 2 Burr. 667 ; 4 Bos. P. 140.