Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

dilatory plea

A plea that does not challenge the merits of a case but that seeks to delay or defeat the action on procedural grounds. "Dilatory pleas are those which do not answer the general right of the plaintiff, either by denial or in confession and avoidance, but assert matter tending to defeat the particular action by resisting the plaintiffs present right of recovery. They may be divided into two main classes: (1) Pleas to the jurisdiction and venue. (2) Pleas in abatement. A minor class, sometimes recognized, is pleas in suspension of the action." Benjamin J. Shipman, Handbook of Common-Law Pleading § 220, at 382 (Henry Winthrop Ballantine ed., 3d ed. 1923).