History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.183.1

v4.c63.183.1

The answer of the defendant must possess the following characteristics viz. it must completely meet all the points of the plaint, it must not deviate from the truth, must not employ vague words, must not be self-contradictory, it should not be such as to require further explanation (because of containing words in a foreign tongue or unknown or rarely used words or elliptical or badly arranged sentences).⁴²⁰ A reply is of four kinds, (1) *mithyā* (of denial), *sampratipatti* or *satya* (confession or admission), *kāraṇa* or *pratyavaskandana* (of special plea or demurrer), *prāṅnyāya* or *pūrvanyāya* (of former judgment or *res judicata*). A reply of denial may take four forms (Nār. II. 5) viz. (1) this (what is affirmed in the plaint) is false, I do not know anything about it, I was not present (when the transaction alleged in the plaint is said to have taken place), I was then not born.⁴²¹ The first is a direct denial, the others are implied or indirect. Very strict rules of pleading were evolved by the time of Kāt., who provides (144) that if a statement asserted by the plaintiff in the hearing of the defendant is not traversed by the latter or if the latter remains silent when he should have given a reply, it (should be held by the court that it) is admitted (by the defendant).⁴²² When the defendant declares the truth of the claim made in the plaint that is a reply of admission.