MUHAMMAD MUSTAQEEM AHMAD

01-177191-035

LLB-8
Introduction

Pleadings in legal sense mean written claims on which parties rely for relief and the defense
which challenge the claim of other party. In a sense pleadings are the beginning of the suit. The
plaint brings to the court the presentation, the legal issue plaintiff is facing at the hands of the
defendant and wants the court to call the defendant and resolve it. According to order 6 rule 1 of
CPC the pleadings mean plaint and written statement but the rule has also been interpreted as to
include the replication and rejoinder because they are essentially the extensions of the plaint and
written statements. In Pakistan there is no specific “law of pleading” per say but its legal bases
are found in The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC). The details of pleadings, what should it
contain, what should not be included in the pleadings and the way in which they are to be
presented has been stated in the CPC. However, the basics of the pleadings are given under only
orders. The order 6 of the CPC gives us the fundamentals of the pleadings, whereas order 7 gives
us the structure of a plaint and relevant provisions and the order 8 gives us the form and related
law of the written statement.

Contents of pleadings:

Only legal issues are parts of the pleadings, this means no moral issues can be part of pleadings
unless they have backing of some law. Similarly the customs having force of law can also be
pleaded. The structure of pleadings have been given in the order 6, 7 and 8 of the CPC. These
orders also give what should be the contents of the pleadings. Some of them are given below1

 Pleadings should contain the material facts and not the evidence 2. Material fact means the
facts which are to be proved by the plaintiff to establish the cause of action and the
defendant has to prove to establish his defense.
 Pleadings shall not contain law provisions.
 Pleading should be concise and precise
 Particulars like fraud, misrepresentation, description of property should be stated
specifically.
 Dates, sums and numbers should be expressed in words as well as numerical figures.

1
Order 6, 7, 8 CPC
2
PLD 2007 LAHORE 482
  It is not necessary to plead the presumption of law which favor the party.

Some of the basic principles of pleadings have been discussed below. They have been explained
with help of the case laws from the apex courts of Pakistan. These principles have been held as
the corner stone of law of pleadings having a strong precedential value.

Purpose of pleadings and better statements:

The object of pleadings is to narrow down the issues between the parties to their infringed rights
and their corresponding liabilities and the relief. In this way all the other issues which fall
outside the circle of law are left out and the case presented to court is a legal issue. Another
object of the pleadings is to notify the other party about the case against them. In this way they
have the ample opportunity to hire legal counsel and prepare their case. So that parties can also
know the issues between them and the case they have to make before the court; what is the cause
of action or what is the defense of the other party against that.

REHMAT ULLAH vs MUHAMMAD SHAFI and Others3

This case gives the over view of the purpose of the pleadings, giving better statements in
pleadings and the effect of those better statements. Better statements are allowed by the law with
the discretion of court as to conditions and cost 4. These statements should be the extension of the
original pleadings. Which means that they should not alter the nature of the suit and it would be
in the interest of justice to allow them.

The facts of the case were that the appellant had agreed to sell his land to the father of the
respondents with two agreements. First agreement was registered and with the total consideration
of RS.8, 30,625/-. The second agreement was for the sale of trees and tube well on the land for
RS.200, 000/-. The respondent acknowledged to these sums in their plaint.

The respondents filed better statements in which they stated that the consideration for the trees
and the tube well in the second agreement was not meant to be paid and it was only stated to
avoid the issue of pre-emption. Later they stated the same as a witness. The counsel for appellant
stated that the better statement is in conflict of what has been stated in the plaint and hence
should not be considered. The trial court held that this sum was not payable.
3
PLD 2007 LAHORE 482
4
Order 6 rule 5 CPC 1908
The issue was whether the better statement and the evidence relating to it should be considered
or not?

The court held that purpose of pleading is to make aware the other party of the case
against them. They are to be notify about the issues of the case so that they can prepare
their defense. In this case the better statements were given in the early stage of the case and
the other party had sufficient time to prepare their defense.

Bound By Pleadings:

As told earlier the pleadings are the claims or defenses on which the case of parties is
established. It is a settled principle of law that parties can’t go beyond the scope of their
pleadings and that they are bound by it5. This means that when something has been stated in the
pleadings parties can’t later deny stating that. So if a person makes an admission to a certain
allegation in the pleadings he can’t retract from it later on. One of the way in which admission is
inferred by the court has been discussed in the case below. The courts of Pakistan have held that
the admission made in the pleadings are of more importance than the other admissions.

LOUISE ANNE FAIRLEY vs SAJJAD AHMAD RANA6

This case deals with importance of the statements given in the pleadings. When something has
been alleged and the other party chooses to stay silent or gives evasive denial in their pleadings it
may amount to admission. So the allegation should be answered specifically.

The facts of the case were that the petitioner and respondent both were citizen of UK but the
respondent was also citizen of Pakistan. They were married and had children but later got
divorced and they had the shared custody of the children. Petitioner argued that the respondent
had abducted their daughter(minor) from UK and moved her here in Lahore while a case for the
child’s custody was going on in Scotland and that the courts of Scotland have proper jurisdiction
to decide the case because the child is a habitual resident of UK and its citizen. The respondent
argued that she (minor) came with him of her free will and has been living here since 2003 so the
Pakistani court has the jurisdiction to decide the case as she has lived here substantially.

5
2007 SCMR 729 SUPREME-COURT
6
2007 PLD 300 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE
The court held that the respondent admitted that his daughter is habitual resident in UK and also
he being in the UK in 2005 and 2006 fighting the case of custody as it was one of the defenses
by the petitioner and the respondent never denied it in his written statement and it amounts
to admission. He in reply to this stated that it is matter of record or with evasive denial but later
argued that his solicitor in UK had illegally stated about his residence in UK because he did not
instruct him. But he failed to prove that.

The court held that admissions in pleadings are on higher pedestal than the other
admissions and the respondent is bound by it.

Secundum Allegata Et Probata:

This maxim means that “only that fact which is alleged is allowed to be proved”. This has been
interpreted as that the facts which are alleged in the pleadings are the only ones for whom to be
proved the evidence is accepted by the court. The facts that are not alleged are not allowed in
court later on unless court allows it specifically. So if a plea has not been taken and an evidence
has been led for it then that evidence shall not be considered. In this way there is a chance of fair
trial. On the other hand if the party is allowed to present an evidence on the issue which has not
been pleaded the other party will be caught off guard and they were not given chance to prepare
their defense. The same principle has been held in the case given below:

MUSARRAT BEGUM AND 2 OTHERS VS SAYED IFTIKHAR HUSSAIN GILLANI AND 2

OTHERS7

This case deals with the issues not pleaded by the parties. That is when a party does not plead a
particular issue he can’t later give evidence for it.

The petitioner filed a suit for declaration and possession through partition. The trial court
decided partially in the favor of petitioner. Both parties went for appeal but the same was
dismissed. Then they came under revisional jurisdiction. The respondents never brought out the
issue of gift deed in their pleadings and also never stated anything related to a private partition
deed. But they led evidence that they are in possession of a gift deed.

7
2016 CLC 1042
The court held that anything not sated in the pleadings can’t be allowed to be proved. So as
the party never pleaded their case of gift deed or the private partition, the evidence presented for
it is irrelevant.

Pleadings Are Not Evidence:

Pleadings are the statements by the parties relating to their claims and defenses of a case. They
are not proof of their rights and liabilities. It the court that decides whether their claims or
defenses have merit to themselves. This also means that pleadings are not the evidence. These
claims or defenses are to be proved with the help of evidence to the standard set by the law.
Similar principle has been set by the judicature of the Pakistan.

MUHAMMAD AKARAM and Another vs Mst. FARIDA BIBI and Others8

The predecessor of respondent filed a suit of pre-emption on the land purchased by the appellant.
She pleaded that she had a superior right to buy the land because it was adjacent to her land and
also shared the common pathway. The trial court gave the judgement in the favor of the
respondents. The appellants filed an appeal in district court which was decreed. Appellant then
filed civil revision which was dismissed. Appellant then approached the Supreme Court with
civil petition. The document presented by the party was Aks Shajra and the lower courts relied
on it to give their judgements.

The issue in the case was whether the document relied upon was sufficient to prove the claim of
the party?

The court held that mere stating that she had a superior right of pre-emption does not
establish the respondent’s right of pre-emption. The same had to be proved through
evidence which the respondent failed to do because the document of Aks Shajra presented by the
party had to be accompanied with the statement of Patwari or author of the document which the
party failed to present. Hence the respondent failed to prove his claim.

Conclusion:

Pleadings are the one of the most important elements of the legal procedure. It is the pleadings
which start the case and notifies the parties about the issues they have to prove or disprove in
8
2007 SCMR 1719
front of the court. The pleadings in a sense decide the fate of the case. The meaning of this is that
the facts that are pleaded are the only ones for which evidence is allowed and also it is the
omissions in the pleadings which discredits the case of the party or sometimes the admissions
made in the pleadings bound the party to lose the case.

With all the discussion above it can be held that ample knowledge of “law of pleading” is first
and one of most important step towards the command of the whole legal procedure.