Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Defence definition

What does Defence mean? In civil litigation, a defence is the defendant’s formal pleading that answers the claim and sets out the material facts and legal grounds relied on. It shapes the issues for disclosure, evidence and trial, and must be filed within the time limits set by court rules; failure may lead to default judgment (or decree). In England and Wales, under the Civil Procedure Rules, the defence is a statement of case responding to the particulars of claim. It should specify which allegations are admitted, denied or not admitted, explain any denial, and plead defences such as limitation or set-off....

Precedent Defence (Civil Claim) for High Court/County Court Proceedings – England and Wales

Published by a LexisNexis Dispute Resolution expert

Precedents

Claim No. [ insert claim number ]

[ IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE [ BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS [ OF ENGLAND AND WALES OR IN [ insert location ] ] ] [ Specify division ] [ Specify speciaLiST court ] [ Insert location ] DISTRICT REGISTRY OR THE COUNTY COURT AT [ insert location ] [ BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS LIST ] ]

BETWEEN

[ insert name ] Claimant

and

[ insert name ] Defendant

[ DRAFT ] Defence

Unless indicated otherwise, any paragraph references in this Defence are to the [ Amended ] Particulars of Claim dated [ insert date ]. The Defendant uses and relies upon the abbreviations set out in the [ Amended ] Particulars of Claim.

[ Limitation

The Claimant’s claim proceeds on [ insert cause of action ]. On the Claimant’s own case, that cause of action was concluded on [ insert date ] when [ insert facts that constitute the complete cause of action ]. By virtue of section [ x ] of the Limitation Act 1980, the limitation period began on [ insert date ] and expired on [ insert date ]...

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Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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