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Defense (legal)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (July 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
In most litigation under the common law adversarial system the defendant, perhaps with the assistance of counsel, may allege or present defenses (or defences) in order to avoid liability, civil or criminal.
A defendant will often contest the accuracy of the allegations made against him or her in a criminal indictment or in a civil complaint. A defense, by contrast, does not depend on refuting such allegations. Instead, a defense introduces new matter, arguing that, even if the allegations against the defendant are true, the defendant is entitled to prevail for some other reason.
In common law civil practice affirmative defenses are presented to limit or avoid liability, they are numerous and include:
- Lack of personal or subject matter jurisdiction of the court
- Failure to state a cause of action or other insufficiencies of pleading
- Statute of limitations, statute of frauds, and other defenses conferred by statute
Note that apart from this defense against prosecution and liability, there is also defense against an attacker, which can be a legal justification, see self defense and defense of others, defense of property.
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