Annotated Forms of Pleading and Practice at Common Law, as Modified by

Excerpt from Annotated Forms of Pleading and Practice at Common Law, as Modified by Statutes, Vol. 1 of 3: For Use in All Common-Law States and Especially Adapted to the States of Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Florida, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia

It has been correctly said that the remedy is the life of the right; and it may be as accurately stated that no remedy at law is possible without proper forms. The forms of an action are inseparable from the right itself. Therefore, it often occurs that a substantial right is either waived or it is completely lost, by an omission of certain formalities. It is through the forms of the law, that the entire range of pleading and practice becomes useful, and it was with the object to make pleadings and prac tice available that this work was undertaken and developed.

Common law forms will always be of value to the legal profession, as the main difference between common law and code pleading lies in the manner and not in the substance of pleading. Thus, a good common law pleader presents the different phases of a cause of action under distinct counts and includes a con solidated count to cover the entire action. A competent code pleader states the cause of action in a single count or complaint that is equivalent to the consolidated count of the common law pleader. The ultimate object of the two modes of pleading is necessarily the same, the modern tendency of common law plead ing being toward the use of a consolidated count as against the old method of pleading a multiplicity of counts.

It will be observed that this work has three main features - the general principles of pleading and practice, the forms or prece dents and the annotations.

Little need be said about the first division. A glance at the Contents of Volume I will afford a sufficient general idea of pleading and practice.

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