Plea

Plea and Pleading. A plea or pleading is a mode of putting forward a defence to certain proceedings. Pleadings in civil actions are now very much curtailed by the Judicature Acts; and by one of the orders made thereunder it is provided that "every pleading shall contain only a statement in a summary form of the material facts on which the party pleading relies, but not the evidence by which they are to be proved, and shall, when necessary, be divided into paragraphs numbered consecutively."