PLEADINGS Pleadings are documents which parties to a proceeding in a civil suit exchange between themselves.

. They consist of all material facts on which the parties rely for the purpose of establishing a claim or defence. Pleadings include a statement of claim, a counterclaim, a defence and defence to counterclaim, a reply and subsequent responses have to be filed and served with the leave of the court. When particulars of pleadings are given pursuant to a request or an order of court or voluntarily, they form part of the pleadings. Pleadings consist only of facts and not law or evidence.

FUNCTIONS OF PLEADINGS 1) To define the issues between the parties

2) To enable the defendant to know the exact nature of the plaintiffs claim and

the relief sought by the plaintiff. 3) To allow the plaintiff to ascertain the exact nature of the defendants defence 4) To assist the court in determining the issue in dispute 5) To narrow down the case to the exact issues to be tried by the court 6) To eliminate the element of surprise 7) To save time of the parties, counsels and the courts and hence reduce the costs Lee Ah Chor v Southern Bank Where a vital issue was not raised in the pleadings it could not be allowed to be argued and to suceed on appellant.

STATEMENT OF CLAIM 1) Function statement of claim to put the defendant to know the exact nature of the plaintiffs claim and the relief sought by the plaintiff.
O 18 r 1(1) RHC if writ not indorsed with statement of claim, pf must serve

the def with statement of claim before the expiration of 14 days after def entered appearance. O 19 r 1 RHC if pf failed to serve def a statement of claim, def may after expiration period fixed by under this rules for service of statement of claim (14 days), apply to the court for an order to dismiss the action. STATEMENT OF DEFENCE Function of statement of defence is to inform the pf of the exact nature of the defs defence against the pfs claim.
Def may raise set-off or counterclaim. The pf must file a defence to the

counterclaim and failure to do so shall entitle the def to obtain a judgment in default of counterclaim against the pf. O 18 r 2(1) RHC def who enters an appearance and intends to defend an action, serve a defence on the pf before the expiration of 14 days after the time limit for appearing or after statement of claim is served on him. O 18 r 2(2) RHC if pf issues an O14 summons, def need not serve the statement of defence unless and until leave to defend is given by the courts. Time allowed is 14 days after the making of the order. If def fails to file and serve his defence, the pf may enter judgment in default of defence against the def (O19 r 2-7 RHC) Syarikat Joo Seng v Habib Bank the matter fell within O19 r7 RHC and pf did not apply for leave. Therefore, JID was deemed to be irregular and the judgment may be set aside as of right. O18 r14 RHC if there is no reply to a defence, there is an implied joinder of issue on that defence.

 Pf shall be deemed to have denied each and every element of the defs defence But where the def does not filed a statement of defence, he is deemed to have admitted to the pfs claim.
Def must deny each and every element of the pfs claim otherwise the def is

deemed to have admitted to the pfs assertions.

DEFENCE TO COUNTERCLAIM Pf must file the defence to counterclaim within 14 days of the counterclaim being served on him. O19 r8 RHC if no defence to counterclaim is filed, the def may obtain a judgment in default to a counterclaim shall be served except with the leave of court. O18 r4 RHC no pleadings subsequent to a reply or a defence CLOSE OF PLEADINGS AND JOINDER OF ISSUE O18 r 14 (2) RHC if no reply is served, the pleadings are deemed to be closed after the service of the defence and there is an implied joinder of issue on the defence. O18 r20 RHC pleadings are deemed to be closed 14 days after service of reply and if there is no reply but there is defence to counterclaim the pleadings are deemed to be closed 14 days later.
O24 r2(1) RHC there must be discovery within 14 days of the close of

pleadings. O25 r1 RHC pf must within one month after the pleadings are deemed to be closed take out a summons for directions. FORMAL REQUIREMENTS OF PLEADINGS (O 18 r 6 RHC) sila rujuk RHC

RULES OF PLEADINGS
O18 r 7 RHC every pleading must contain a statement in a summary form of

the material facts on which the party pleading relies for his claim or defence, but not the evidence by which those facts are to be proved, and the statement must be brief as the nature of the case admits. Essential elements of pleadings : a) Facts, not law Law is for the courts to decide and if the parties are allowed to plead law, they will cloud the issues by concentrating on the law and neglecting the facts.
Middlesex CC v Nathan it was pleaded that the def was at the

material time the person responsible for the maintenance of the said Solomon Nathan. It was held that this amounted to a pleading of the law that sought to draw a conclusion which can only be decided upon by the courts. b) Facts, not evidence Evidence must no be pleaded in the pleadings but must be adduced at the trial c) Facts and only material facts Deleting material facts may cause the case to be unformulated and thus be deprived of the remedy sought, because: Facts not pleaded may not be raised in court Evidence cannot be adduced on facts not pleaded, and The court cannot decide on a fact not pleaded