DRAFTING, PLEADING AND
CONVEYANCING
UNIT 1
FUNDAMENTAL RULES OF PLEADINGS
TOPIC 1.1
PLEADINGS
Ms. Vaishnavi Srivastava
Assistant Professor
DME Law School
[email protected] OBJECTIVES OF UNIT I:
As the pleadings form the backbone of any
civil suit, it is very imperative that the students
are made to understand the contours and
intricacies of the basic principles and rules of
drafting civil pleadings.
To make them understand the importance of
pleading as it is the first step taken by the
parties to a case whereby they state their
respective contentions, which helps in laying
down the strong foundation of the case.
• TEXT BOOK
R.N. Chaturvedi;Pleading,Drafting and
Conveyancing, Eastern Book Company
A.N. Chaturvedi; Principles and Forms of Pleading
and Conveyancing, Allahabad Law Agency
• REFERENCE BOOKS
G.C. Mogha & S. N. Dhingra, Mogha’s Law of
Pleadings in India with Precedents, Eastern Law
House
N.S. Bindra, Pleadings and Practice, Universal
Law Publishing
MEANINGS
• DRAFTING: To write down something on
paper or parchment.
• PLEADING: Statement of facts in writing
drawn up and filed in a Court by each party
to a case stating what his contentions shall
be at the trial or the formal statement of
cause of action or defence.
• CONVEYANCING: An instrument or deed
through which one or more living persons
transfer his or their interest upon immovable
property to one or more living persons.
PLEADING
Meaning of Pleadings: ORDER 6 of CPC deals with
Pleadings. Rule 1 of the Order states that “Pleadings
means Plaint and Written Statement.”
In Devki Nandan v. Murlidhar, it was held that a
finding cannot be sustained which is based on no
pleading and no evidence.
Object of Pleadings: To give a fair notice to other
party of what the opponent’s case is. Parties come to
know before hand what points the opposite party will
raise at the trial, and thus they are a prepared to meet
them and are not taken by surprise (the rule of audi
alteram partem)
MEANING OF PLEADING
• Pleadings are the statement of facts in writing drawn up and filed in a
Court by each party to a case stating therein what his contention shall
be at the trial and giving all such details as his opponent will need to
know in order to prepare his case in answer.
• In India there are only two pleading in a suit as defined under Order VI,
rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, it says that pleading means
“Plaint or Written Statement”.
• The plaint and written statement are defined in the following clauses:
1. Plaint: A statement of claims, called the “plaint” in which the plaintiff
sets out his cause of action with all necessary particulars. The
provisions related to Plaint are provided in Order VII of CPC; and
2. Written Statement: A statement of defence, called the “written
statement” in which the defendant deals with every material fact alleged
by the Plaintiff in the plaint and also sets any new facts which tells in
his favor, adding such objection as he wishes to take to the claim. The
provisions related to Written Statement are provided in Order VIII.
• Drafting may be defined as the synthesis of law and
fact in a language.
• It is the development and preparation of legal
instruments such as constitutions, statutes,
regulations, ordinances, contracts, wills,
conveyances, indentures, trusts and leases, etc.
• Besides seeking the right words, the draftsman seeks
the right concepts.:
1. Drafting, therefore, is first thinking and
2. second composing.
• Drafting, in legal sense, means an act of preparing
the legal documents like suits, written statements,
agreements, contracts, deeds etc.
• A proper understanding of drafting cannot be realised unless the
nexus between the law, the facts, and the language is fully
understood and accepted.
• Drafting of legal documents requires, as a pre-requisite, the
skills of a draftsman, the knowledge of facts and law so as to put
facts in a systematised sequence to give a correct presentation of
legal status, privileges, rights and duties of the parties, and
obligations arising out of mutual understanding or prevalent
customs or usages or social norms or business conventions, as
the case may be, terms and conditions, breaches and remedies
etc. in a self-contained and self-explanatory form without any
patent or latent ambiguity or doubtful connotation.
• To collect, consolidate and co-ordinate the above facts in the
form of a document, it requires serious thinking followed by
prompt action to reduce the available information into writing
with a legal meaning, open for judicial interpretation to derive
the same sense and intentions of the parties with which and for
which it has been prepared, adopted and signed.
Order VI (Bare Act Reading) section by section.
Order VI of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 deals with
the pleadings in general.
• Rule 1 defines Pleading which means plaint or written
statement.
• Rule 2 lays down the fundamental principles of pleading.
• Rules 3-13 require the parties to supply necessary
particulars.
• Rules 14 and 15 provide for signing and verification of
pleadings.
• Rule 16 empowers a Court to strike out unnecessary
pleadings.
• Rules 17 and 18 contain provisions relating to amendment
of Pleadings.
Function and Object of Pleadings
1. The object of pleadings is to assist the Court and the parties to
the dispute in its adjudication. Its function is of multi-
dimension, and is in various ways.
2. To give a fair notice to each party of what the opponent’s case
is.
3. To ascertain with precision, the points on which the parties
agree and those on which they differ and thus to bring the
parties to is also a definite issue.
4. To eradicate irrelevancy. The parties, thus themselves know
what are the matters left in dispute and what facts whey have
to prove at the trial. They are saved from the expense and
trouble of calling evidence which may prove unnecessary in
view of the admission of the opposite party.
5. Truly speaking the object of the pleading is to narrow down the
controversy of the parties to definite issue.
FUNDAMENTAL RULES OF
PLEADINGS
1. Facts and Not Law: Order VI rule 2 of CPC
“Pleading shall contain and contain only a statement
of facts and not law.” It was held in Kedar Lal v. Hari
Lal, it was hekd that it is the duty of the parties to state
only the facts on which they rely upon their claims and
it is for the court to apply law to the facts pleaded.
2. Material Facts only: Pleadings to contain the Facts
which have a direct and immediate bearing on the
case. It was held in Udhav Singh v. Madhav Rao
Scindia, the Supreme Court said that the term material
fact means ‘All the primary facts which must be
proved at the trial by a party to establish the existence
of cause of action or his defence are material facts.
FUNDAMENTAL RULES OF
PLEADINGS
3. Facts not Evidence: The third fundamental rule of pleadings
is that only facts must be stated and not the evidence. The facts
are of two types :
a.Facta probanda: the facts required to be proved.(material
facts)
b.Facta probantia: the facts by means of which they are to be
proved.( particulars or evidence)
The pleadings should only contain the facta probanda.
4. Concise and Precise: Facts should be stated in the in a
concise form but with precision and certainty. Pleadings shall
be divided into paragraphs, numbered consecutively and should
be brief and to the point. In Virendra Kashinath v. Vinayak N.
Joshi, the words “in a concise form” are definitely suggestive
of the fact that brevity should not be at the cost of exclusing
necessary facts, but it does not mean niggling in the pleadings.
SOME ADDITIONAL RULES OF
PLEADINGS
1. Every pleading shall when necessary be divided into
relevant paragraphs and numbered consecutively.
2. Dates, sums and numbers shall be expressed in a
pleading in figures as well as in words.
3. Every pleading shall be signed by the party and his
pleader.
4. Every pleading should be verified at the foot by the
party stating the date and place at which it was signed.
5. Wherever the content is material or it is material to
allege malice, fraudulent intention or where any
contract or relation between persons is to implied then
it will be sufficient to allege the same as a fact without
setting out the whole details.
HIERARCHY OF COURTS (CIVIL)
• Supreme Court
• High Court
• District Court:
District Judge
Additional District Judge
Assistant District Judge
• Lower Courts:
Civil Judge (Senior Division)
Civil Judge (Junior Division)
• Jurisdiction of Civil Courts as per CPC
Pecuniary and Territorial Jurisdiction (Section 16-20 CPC)
Pecuniary Jurisdiction:
Civil Court: 3 lakhs
Criminal Court : 3 lakhs to 2 crore
High Court : above 2 crore
As per the latest developments on 11th March 2022 , the Delhi high
court has passed a resolution insisting that the pecuniary
jurisdiction of civil court should be increased from 3lakhs to 20
lakhs as the present jurisdition is very meagre and the same will
also help in reducing the burden of courts.
• Parties to Suit
-Plaintiff(s)
-Defendant(s)
AMENDMENT OF PLEADINGS
• Order VI Rule 17 of the Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908 :
The Court may allow the amendment of
Pleadings at any stage of the proceedings and
for such purpose it may impose conditions
i.e. in the form of cost or any other condition.
The Court shall allow only such amendments
which are necessary for determination of real
questions in controversy between the parties
to the suit.
• Order VI Rule 18 of the Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908 deals with the issue of failure
to amend.
It provides that if a party who has obtained an
order for leave to amend does not amend
accordingly within the time limited for that
purpose by the order, he shall not be permitted
to amend after the expiration of such limited
time as aforesaid or such 14 days (where no
time is prescribed) unless the time is extended
by the court.
The Proviso to Order VI Rule 17 puts a
mandate upon the Court not to allow such
amendment after the trial has begun unless if
it finds that the party could have raised the
pleadings by due diligence at an earlier point
of time.
