The subject of common law pleadings is that concerned with the pleadings in proceedings before common law courts.

A pleading is "a statement in a logical and legal form, of the facts which constitute the plaintiff's cause of action or the defendant's ground of defense." 2

This excludes a demurrer (which raises a question of law) from the list of pleadings; some of the more modern definitions of pleadings are enlarged so as to include demurrers.3

"The alternate statements of the parties, which constitute the pleadings (placita) of an action, were originally expressed by the parties or their attorneys in open court before the judges, minutes of which were entered on the record when they were finally settled. These minutes were made by the clerk under the immediate direction of the judges. This method of proceeding continued unto the reign of Henry VIII, when it became the universal practice of the parties or their advocates to deliver the pleadings to the court in writing. The pleadings as entered never speak in the first person, a fact which seems to corroborate their oral origin, when the clerks made minutes of what the respective parties had said before the judges."4

1 Vol. I, Subject 2. 2 1 Chit. PL, 2, 13.

3 See Martin on Civil Procedure, Sec. 14.

The various pleadings will be treated in Chapter VII (Expert And Opinion Evidence. Section 44. Definition And Scope) and the rules of pleading in chapter VIII (Rules Of Pleading. Section 40. Rules Tending Solely To The Production Of An Issue) of this subject.

The great object of the system of common law pleading is to bring the parties to an issue on some point upon which the case can be decided.