Definition
Claims is the plural of CLAIM. A claim is a demand for a right, remedy, or sum of money asserted by one party against another — or against a governmental body — based on an alleged legal entitlement, injury, or contractual obligation. The term operates across nearly every field of law and carries distinct technical meanings depending on context.
1. Civil litigation. A claim is a cause of action: the factual and legal basis upon which a plaintiff seeks relief from a defendant. Modern pleading rules require a plaintiff to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Multiple claims may be joined in a single action.
2. Property law. A claim is an assertion of title or interest in real or personal property. A claimant asserts a right to ownership, possession, or lien against property held by or encumbered by another.
3. Contract and commercial law. A claim is a demand for payment or performance arising from a contractual obligation or breach. In bankruptcy, "claims" has a specific statutory meaning encompassing any right to payment, whether or not reduced to judgment, fixed, contingent, matured, unmatured, disputed, undisputed, legal, or equitable.
4. Government and administrative law. A claim is a formal demand submitted to a government entity for compensation, benefits, or relief — including tort claims against the government, insurance claims, and veterans' benefits claims.
5. Intellectual property. In patent law, claims are the numbered paragraphs at the end of a patent specification that define the precise scope of the invention's legal protection.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Plural of claim; general assertions of a right, entitlement, or allegation.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Demands of a right or supposed right; a calling on another for something due or supposed to be due; also, the thing claimed or demanded.
The common and legal meanings are close in general shape but diverge sharply in technical application. In ordinary language, a "claim" is nearly any assertion of a right or fact. In law, the word triggers specific procedural, pleading, and substantive consequences that vary dramatically by context — a "claim" in federal civil procedure, a "claim" in bankruptcy, and a "claim" before the VA are governed by entirely different bodies of rule and doctrine. Treating the word as a unified concept across these contexts is a research error.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
- Claim in law: Seeks legal relief such as damages.
- Claim in equity: Seeks equitable relief such as injunction or specific performance.
- Administrative claim: Filed with a government agency before or instead of court action.
- Proof of claim: Formal document filed by a creditor in bankruptcy proceedings.
- Patent claim: Defines the legal boundaries of patent protection; may be independent or dependent.
- Cross-claim: A claim asserted by one co-party against another co-party in the same action.
- Counterclaim: A claim by a defendant against the plaintiff in the same action.
- Third-party claim: A claim by a defendant against a party not yet named in the action.
Why It Matters in Research
The word "claims" is one of the most context-sensitive terms in legal research. A researcher who locates historical sources discussing "claims" without anchoring the term to a specific field of law risks importing the wrong doctrine entirely.
In historical sources, "claim" frequently appears in property and land contexts — asserting title, filing a mining claim, or presenting a demand against an estate. Modern usage has expanded significantly into administrative, procedural, and statutory domains. Bouvier's, for instance, routes researchers to French spoliation claims as a primary reference point, reflecting a period when international claims against foreign governments were a significant and discrete category of legal practice. That framing is historically illuminating but will mislead a researcher working on modern civil litigation or benefits law.
Bankruptcy is a particular trap. The Bankruptcy Code's definition of "claim" is intentionally expansive — broader than the term's meaning in any other context. Pre-Code historical sources will not reflect this scope.
In veterans' law, "claims" is a term of art governing an entire administrative process with specific filing requirements, rating methodologies, and appeal pathways. The VA claims process is procedurally self-contained and does not track general civil litigation concepts of claims.
Patent claims deserve special attention: they are both the most precisely drafted and the most heavily litigated use of the word in American law. Historical patent dictionaries and treatises treat "claims" in a manner that predates modern claim construction doctrine; researchers should not rely on pre-20th-century sources for claim scope analysis.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary does not provide a standalone entry for CLAIMS. The cross-reference to FRENCH SPOLIATION CLAIMS is the primary substantive treatment, situating the term historically within the context of international claims — demands by American citizens against France for vessel seizures and maritime depredations in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This reflects the prominence of international claims practice in the period when Bouvier's was compiled.
The Latin cognate CLAMOR — also in Bouvier's — provides useful etymological and civil-law context. Bouvier defines clamor as a suit, demand, complaint, or debt claimed from another, tracing the term through Du Cange and Spelman's Glossary. This confirms that the legal concept of a claim as a formal demand with procedural force is ancient and not a modern invention, though its procedural expression has changed substantially.
What Bouvier's misses: the modern proliferation of "claim" as a term of art in civil procedure, administrative law, bankruptcy, and patent law. A researcher relying solely on historical dictionaries will find solid grounding in property and equity contexts but will find nothing useful for claims in the Code of Federal Regulations, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or Title 11.
Jurisdictional Note
The meaning of "claim" in civil procedure is substantially uniform in federal courts under the Federal Rules, but state procedural codes vary. Bankruptcy claims are governed exclusively by federal law. Patent claims are a matter of federal law construed by the Federal Circuit. Veterans' claims are governed by federal statute and VA regulation, with appeal to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
VA Claims Process — Initial Claim, Development, and Rating Decision (The Law Mind Military, Veterans & Admiralty Law Encyclopedia)