Stages of a Civil Trial in Pakistan

From its inception, a civil trial passes through certain stages, until its final
conclusion. While each case has its own peculiarities, the broad steps remain the same,
illustrated in the chart below, and followed by a brief description.

Stages of Civil Trial:

1 Filing of Case

2 Summoning of Defendant

Ex-Parte Proceedings If Defendant

does not If Defendant
appear appears
Stages: 5, 7, 9 & 10
but all in absence of
Defendant

3 Filing of Written Statement

4 Framing of issues

5 Evidence of Plaintiff

6 Evidence of Defendant

7 Final Arguments of Plaintiff

8 Final Arguments of
Defendant

9 Judgment Pronounced

10 Decree/ Ex-Parte Decree

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1. FILING OF CASE:

The Plaintiff files the case. This is done by dropping the entire case file (upcoming
blog will give details of what a civil case file includes) into a petition box located in
the district court premises.

Petition Box Islamabad District Courts- Photo Credit: Saman Mamoon

Cases are then marked to be heard by a particular civil judge.

The frequent terms you may hear in preparation of a case are:

 Vakalatnama:

A document by which a person gives authority to a lawyer to represent them in court;

A power of attorney in favour of a lawyer. There is a set format which lawyers use
with minor variations.

 Plaint, Plaintiff & Defendant:

A Plaint is the written allegation submitted to the court. The person who files it is
called the Plaintiff and against whom it is filed is called the Defendant. For example if
a case title is, Ahmad Bilal (“AB”) v Chaudry Daud (“CD”) *, Ahmad Bilal would be
the Plaintiff, one who has filed the case in court, and Chaudry Daud would be the
Defendant, meaning the person who has to reply to the allegations and defend the
case.

* Fictitious characters

2. SUMMONING OF DEFENDANT:

The Defendant, CD in our example above, needs to be informed that there is a case
against him and consequently, has to appear in court to give his version of the facts.
The court uses a process to enforce a Defendant’s attendance, through sending
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summons (on the address of the Defendant via courier and registered post). Failing the
Defendant’s presence, despite summons being served on him, the court gives a last
chance for appearance, by ordering a newspaper advertisement to be published
informing him about the case. After this the case proceeds without the Defendant.
(called “Ex parte” proceedings).

3. FILING OF WRITTEN STATEMENT:

The written reply filed by the Defendant, presenting his side of the story, is called a
Written Statement. Once the Defendant appears in court he is given time to file his
Written Statement along with all supporting documents.

4. FRAMING OF ISSUES:

After reviewing both the Plaint and Written Statement, the judge will pose questions
that he/she feels need to be answered to reach a decision. This process is called
Framing of Issues. Furthermore these issues are either for the Plaintiff to prove (Onus
to Prove on Plaintiff [OPP]) or for the Defendant to prove [OPD]. Thereafter, the
parties call witnesses who give evidence in light of these questions.

This is also the last stage (within seven days of framing of issues) at which the parties
must submit a list of persons who they intend to call as witnesses to the court.

5. EVIDENCE OF PLAINTIFF:

Anything you present to the court to support your case is evidence and it is of two
types, oral (what you say in court on oath as a witness) and documentary (the
documents you present in court as a witness). The evidence of Plaintiff is conducted in
two stages, firstly examination in chief (your lawyer asking you questions to bring out
your story) and secondly, cross examination (other party’s lawyer asking you question
to discredit your story).

6. EVIDENCE OF DEFENDANT:

Same as point no 5 above, except that it is now the Defendant’s turn to give evidence.

7. FINAL ARGUMENTS OF PLAINTIFF:

Final Arguments are a summary of the entire case including evidence and relevant
law. The Plaintiff has the first turn.

8. FINAL ARGUMENTS OF DEFENDANT:

Defendant’s turn to give summary of his version of the case.

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9. JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED:

The Judge decides the case according to the issues framed and answers them
according to the evidence he/she has heard. He/she gives his/her detailed reasons for
concluding the case for or against the Plaintiff.

10. DECREE DRAWN UP:

A decree is the formal expression of the final outcome of the case in light of the
Judgment.

Note: A civil trial is rarely as straightforward as the above process shows. At different
stages one party or the other, often file applications under different provisions of the
procedural rules (for e.g. Application for rejection of plaint due to either being barred
by law, or the plaint not disclosing a cause of action). When this happens the other
party files a reply to that application. Thereafter, the judge hears arguments on that
particular application and gives an order either accepting or dismissing the application.
Only after disposal of applications does the case proceed.

The detailed procedure to be followed in civil cases is contained in the Code of Civil
Procedure 1908

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