Declaration,

Declaration, in Common Law, was the pleading in which the plaintiff in an action at law sets forth his case against the defendant. Since the Judicature Act of 1875, the Statement of Claim (q.v.) takes the place both of it and of the former Bill in Chancery (see BILL). In the United States the declaration still retains many of the features of the English common-law declaration, but this form is gradually falling into disuse in obedience to the modern tendency to simplify judicial proceedings. Many of the states having adopted one form of civil action, the courts of law have simplified the common-law declaration and adapted it to this form of action. The declaration substituted must be entitled of the court, term, and number, the venue laid, the names of the parties, and the facts necessary to show jurisdiction stated. This is followed by a concise statement in narrative form of the entire cause of action showing the right of plaintiff to recover.