Definition
To plead is to formally present or file a pleading in a legal proceeding. The term carries several related but distinct meanings depending on context:
1. Generally: To make, deliver, or file any pleading; to conduct the pleading stage of a cause. In this broad sense, both plaintiff and defendant plead — the plaintiff by stating a claim, the defendant by responding to it.
2. In civil procedure: To interpose a substantive answer to the opposing party's pleading — alleging facts in response, whether by denial or by introducing new matter. In this sense, to plead is the antithesis of to demur: a party who pleads accepts the factual contest; a party who demurs challenges the legal sufficiency of the pleading itself.
3. In criminal procedure: To enter a formal response to an indictment or criminal charge — most commonly a plea of guilty, not guilty, or no contest. When a defendant appears before a court and answers the charge, they are said to plead.
4. Historically, in practice: To appear and act as a pleader or advocate in a cause — i.e., to argue on behalf of a party. This usage, now largely archaic in American practice, corresponds to the older English role of serjeant-at-law or barrister.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To beg, beseech, or implore, especially emotionally; to offer something by way of excuse; to present an argument.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To argue in support of a claim or in defense against another's claim; to urge reasons for or against a thing; to attempt to persuade by argument or supplication.
The gap matters. In ordinary English, to plead suggests emotional entreaty — pleading for mercy, pleading with a judge. In legal usage, pleading is a technical act governed by procedural rules: it refers to filing a written document or entering a formal court response, not to the emotional register of the speaker. A criminal defendant who pleads guilty is not begging — they are making a binding procedural act with specific legal consequences. Confusing the emotional and technical meanings has practical consequences when reading historical records or judicial opinions.
Common Confusion
To plead is frequently conflated with to argue (as in oral argument) and with to allege. In strict procedural usage, pleading occurs before argument — pleadings define the issues; arguments address them. Similarly, while allegations appear in pleadings, to allege is a narrower act; to plead encompasses the entire document and the formal act of filing or presenting it. In the criminal context, a plea (the noun) and an argument are entirely distinct stages: a defendant pleads at arraignment and argues at trial.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
The act of pleading takes several recognized procedural forms:
— Plead to the merits: Respond to the substance of the opposing party's claim or charge, accepting the factual contest.
— Plead to the jurisdiction: Challenge the court's authority to hear the matter rather than engaging the merits.
— Plead in bar: Assert a defense that, if established, bars the claim entirely — such as res judicata or the statute of limitations.
— Plead guilty / not guilty / no contest: Enter a formal criminal plea. The entry of such a plea is a discrete procedural event with immediate legal consequences.
— Plead specially: In common-law pleading, to state specific facts constituting a defense, rather than simply traversing the plaintiff's allegations.
Why It Matters in Research
The term plead is a research trap precisely because it operates at multiple levels simultaneously — procedural, strategic, and (in historical sources) professional. Researchers working in pre-code common-law materials will encounter a technical system of pleading largely abolished by the Field Code (1848) and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (1938). In that historical system, the act of pleading was governed by strict formal requirements: a misstep in pleading could be fatal to a case regardless of its underlying merit. When reading older cases or treatises, plead carries this weight.
In modern federal practice, how a party pleads matters enormously because the sufficiency of pleading determines whether a case survives a motion to dismiss. The connection between plead and the well-pleaded complaint rule is especially significant for federal question jurisdiction: whether a federal question is properly pleaded — appearing on the face of the complaint, not merely in anticipated defenses — determines whether subject-matter jurisdiction exists at all. Researchers tracing 28 U.S.C. § 1331 questions should treat the act of pleading as a jurisdictional fact, not merely a drafting exercise.
In criminal materials, plead appears in a further distinct sense: the entry of a plea is a constitutional moment. Researchers examining arraignment records, plea colloquies, or habeas petitions should recognize that to plead in this context involves Sixth Amendment dimensions — voluntariness, advice of counsel, factual basis — entirely absent from civil pleading.
Cross-corpus note: The same term will appear in equity materials (where pleading took the form of bills and answers), probate records, and chancery practice — each with its own procedural conventions. Rapalje & Lawrence flag the equity/common-law distinction explicitly. Do not assume uniformity across practice areas.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical sources are largely consistent in their core definition — to plead is to answer the previous pleading of the opposing party, either by denial or by introducing fresh matter — but they diverge in emphasis and coverage.
Black's (1st ed.) offers the most compressed statement: "to make, deliver, or file any pleading; to conduct the pleadings in a cause." Black's (2nd ed.) expands usefully, distinguishing the general act from the more specific criminal and adversarial senses, and notes the antithesis with demur — a distinction that is analytically important and often overlooked.
Rapalje & Lawrence provide the most practically detailed treatment, distinguishing general issues (simple traversal) from special pleas (affirmative defense by fresh matter), and noting the parallel between the common-law plea and what became the statement of defense under then-current English practice. Their treatment of equity pleading (bills, answers, and cross-bills) is a valuable supplement for researchers working in chancery materials.
Burrill's entry is fragmentary in the excerpted text but gestures toward the material issue function of pleading — its role in defining the contested facts that will go to trial. This is the foundational purpose of the pleading system that all later sources presuppose.
What the historical sources collectively miss: They do not address the constitutional dimensions of criminal pleading that have become central in American practice since the mid-twentieth century, nor do they anticipate the notice-pleading regime introduced by the Federal Rules. Researchers should not rely on pre-1938 dictionary definitions for guidance on modern federal pleading standards.
Jurisdictional Note
Criminal plea procedures vary by state: some jurisdictions permit an Alford plea as a recognized form of guilty plea; others do not. The procedural requirements for entering a valid plea — including allocution, factual basis requirements, and colloquy — differ meaningfully between federal and state courts. In federal court, Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure governs the entire plea process. State equivalents vary.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Federal Question Jurisdiction — 28 USC 1331 and the Well-Pleaded Complaint Rule (Law Mind Civil Procedure & Evidence Encyclopedia, civpro_2): Directly relevant to how the act of pleading determines subject-matter jurisdiction in federal question cases.