Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Key definition
Defendant definition

What does Defendant mean? In legal practice, “defendant” describes the party against whom court proceedings are brought, whether a civil claim or a criminal charge. In England and Wales the term is defined in the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR 2.3) as a person against whom a claim is made; it is also used in the Criminal Procedure Rules. Northern Ireland follows similar usage. In Scotland, the civil counterpart is the “defender” (claimant is the pursuer), and in criminal cases the person is referred to as the “accused” (also the “panel” in solemn proceedings). In Ireland, civil procedure uses “defendant” under the Rules of...

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Pre-action Calderbank defendant settlement offer letter template: without prejudice save as to costs (England and Wales)

Precedents
imgtext

[ ON YOUR LETTERHEAD ]

without prejudice SAVE AS TO COSTS

[ SUBJECT TO CONTRACT ]

[ Insert date ]

[ Insert name and address of other party’s solicitor ]

Dear [ insert contact name ]

[ Insert subject of letter ]

We refer to our open letter of [ today’s date OR [ insert date ] ]. As explained in that correspondence, both we and our client remain assured that, were your client to commence proceedings in relation to the alleged claim described in your letter of claim dated [ insert date ] (the ‘Letter of Claim’), our client would be entirely successful in resisting and defeating any such claim...

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Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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