Law Students

Pleaded v. Pled

By Patrick

Hey Patrick,
I regret to inform you that the difference between "pleaded and "pled" is that "pled" is not a word. The past tense/past participle of "plead" is "pleaded." Spell-check says its a word and maybe some dictionaries, but ask the OED and it's a no go. Which is a damn shame because [us] poets love those monosyllabic, loaded words.

Although the OED does not appear to treat "pleaded" in its relationship to the noun, "pleading" (as in a complaint), that is also not the sense in which "pled" is used in legal jargon. When we say, "Plaintiff pled y," what we mean is "plaintiff said in the complaint that y." We are using the term in the OED's past participle sense, as it relates to "plead," or "ask," or, "beg."

Armen suggests the same conclusion for the following reason: Think of it as the difference between "I couldn't care less" and "I could care less."

That's an argument I couldn't understand less, but maybe he was right after all?

You tell me.

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on February 22, 2008 (boomark / email).