In civil matters the party which files the case is known as ‘plaintiff’ and the party
against whom the case is filed is known as ‘defendant’. In legal terminology,
civil case is known as suit. Civil suit or case passes through following stages:
1. Filing of plaint (‘plaint’ is a legal term for the case filed by the plaintiff)
- First stage of the civil matter is filing of the plaint. Case/plaint prepared
by the advocate is filed in the appropriate Court of law.
2. Issuing summons to the opposite party - Once a case is filed then summons
i.e. intimation of the filing of that case is sent by the Court to the other party.
3. Appearance of defendant – On receiving summons defendant enters
appearance and files its response to the case filed by the plaintiff. The
response filed by the defendant is known as Written Statement. Plaintiff can
file a replication (reply) to the written statement filed by the defendant.
4. Framing of issues – After filing of plaint, written statement and replication,
Court frames issues i.e point of disputes raised in the matter.
5. Recording of evidence – Thereafter, evidence on behalf of the parties are
filed. By way of evidence, parties try to prove their case and disprove other
party’s case. Generally plaintiff’s evidence takes place first and thereafter
evidence on behalf of defendant is lead.
6. Arguments – After completion of recording of evidence, arguments are
advanced on behalf of the disputing parties.
7. Judgment – After hearing arguments and appreciating evidence filed by the
parties, Judge delivers judgement in the case and the matter gets decided
in favour of either party. The Dissatisfied party has the right to approach
the higher Court by way of appeal or any other remedy.