Claim - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition claim

Definition :

Claim [fr. clamer, Fr.; clamo,Lat., to call], a challenge of interest of anything which is in another's possession, or at least out of a man's own possession, as claim by charter, descent, etc., Plow, 359 a. Any assertion of a right to a remedy, relief or property, either general, or before a tribunal, a pleading in an action, see County Courts Act, 1934, and STATEMENT OF CLAIM.

Means 'a demand for something as due' or 'to seek or ask for on the ground of right', Hameedia Hardware Stores v. B. Mohan Lal Sowcar, (1988) 3 SCR 384: (1988) 2 SCC 513: AIR 1988 SC 1060 (1068). [T.N. Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act (18 of 1960), s. 10 (3)(a)(iii)]

1. The aggregate of operative facts giving rise to a right enforceable by a court. 2. The assertion of an existing right, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 240.

Claim, the natural construction of the words taken in context is that 'claim' is referring to an order for costs in the current proceedings against the claimant, rather than a hypothetical claim for an unascertained amount which can be enforced against a claimant, whether because he is ordinarily resident in a convention state or because he has assets in such State, De Beer v. Kannar Co. (CA), (2003) 1 WLR 38.