Justice reviews ancient ‘science of pleading’

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted December 15, 2022 11:08 AM

Concurring in a decision by the Texas Supreme Court to pass on reviewing a case that was dismissed because of what looked like “an inadvertent technical mistake,” Justice Evan A. Young provided a fascinating look at the rigid common law procedural rules — where “the slightest pleading defect could prove fatal.” That includes a 1581 case that Sir Edward Coke won by spotting a pleading error that is “almost too arcane to believe.”The complaint against Coke’s client, a vicar, was based on a 1378 statute that had been …

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