Mary Roh has decided to sue. She has a lawyer; she has a court. Now she is ready to bring her case to court. Starting a lawsuit requires that she tell the court what it is that she wants. Otherwise, the court will not know which matters it is to decide and which remedies, if any, it is to order. What the court is to decide – the matter in controversy – is fundamental to all three of our systems of civil procedure.

In all three of our systems, plaintiffs begin lawsuits by telling courts what they want from whom. They answer the classic question that American law professors pose to their first-year students: Who is suing whom for what? Plaintiffs do this in documents called complaints. Defendants are formally “served with process,” that is, they are informed of the lawsuit and are formally given the complaint. Defendants are “summoned” to appear within a certain period of time (usually, less than a month) and, if they do not, they are deemed in default. They respond either in documents called “answers” or in motions to the court. Plaintiffs may reply to these answers and motions. Collectively, this written give and take between the parties at the beginning of the lawsuit constitutes the pleadings.