Particulars - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition particulars

Definition :

Particulars. The courts have a general jurisdiction, independently of statute, to order a detailed statement of the demand in any litigation, or of any defence, to be given that surprise may be avoided, and substantial justice promoted, 2 Chit. Arch. Prac. The necessity for application for particulars has become less frequent since the Judicature Acts, as the Rules of Court under those Acts have substituted a statement of claim containing the material facts on which the plaintiff relied for the declaration under the old practice, which only contained a legal statement of the plaintiff's cause of action.

It is provided, however by (English) R.S.C., Ord. XIX, R. 7, that:-

A further and better statement of the nature of the claim or defence, or further and better particulars of any matter stated in any pleading, notice, or written proceeding requiring particulars, may in all cases be ordered, upon such terms, as to costs and otherwise, as may be just;

and see the Index to the Annual Practice of the Supreme Court, tit.' Particulars'; see also County Court Rules, Orders VI. And XV.

'Particulars' was in ss. 83 and 90 of Representation of the People Act, 1951 means 'instances' of a corrupt practice, Sangappa v. Shivamurti Swamy, AIR 1958 Mys 120 (124). [Representation of the People Act, 1951, s. 90 (5)]

In its ordinary meaning, the word 'particulars' means details or items: (see the Concise Oxford Dictionary). In the Dictionary of English Law by Jowitt, 'particulars' with reference to a claim means the details of the claim which are necessary in order to enable the other side to know what case he has to meet, B.H. Aswathanarayana Singh v. State of Mysore, AIR 1965 SC 1848 (1852): (1966) 1 SCR 87.