Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Plaintiff

The party who brings a civil suit in a court of law. - Abbr. pltf. Cf. DEFENDANT.

charge and discharge. Equity practice. Court ordered account filings by a plaintiff and a defendant. ( The plaintiff's account (charge) and the defendant's response (discharge) were filed with a maste

class representative. A person who sues on behalf of a group of plaintiffs in a class action. - Also termed named plaintiff

See CLASS ACTION.

coplaintiff.

One of two or more plaintiffs in the same litigation. Cf. CODEFENDANT.

lessor of the plaintiff

Hist. The true party in interest prosecuting an action for ejectment. ( At common law, an ejectment action theoretically was only for the recovery of the unexpired term of the lease. Conventions of pleadings at the time required the true plaintiff to grant a fictitious lease, thereby becoming a lessor, to an equally fictitious plaintiff in whose name the action would be prosecuted.

named plaintiff

See class representative under REPRESENTATIVE.

plaintiff in error

Archaic. See APPELLANT; PETITIONER.

plaintiff's-viewpoint rule

The principle that courts should measure the amount in controversy in a case by analyzing only the amount of damages claimed by the plaintiff. plain-touch doctrine See PLAIN-FEEL DOCTRINE.

plea to the person of the plaintiff

A plea in abatement alleging that the plaintiff has a legal disability to sue.

third-party plaintiff

A defendant who files a pleading in an effort to bring a third party into the lawsuit. See third party complaint under COMPLAINT.

use plaintiff

Common-law pleading. A plaintiff for whom an action is brought in another's name. ( For example, when the use plaintiff was an assignee ("A") of a chose in action and had to sue in someone else's name, the assignor ("B") would appear first on the petition's title: "B for the Use of A against C." - Also termed usee.