law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

, an appearance (from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''apparere'', to appear) occurs when a party to a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

physically appears in court, or to a formal act through which a

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisdic ...

submits to the

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

of the

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

in which the lawsuit is pending.

History

The defendant in an action in the High Court of England enters his appearance to the

writ of summons A writ of summons is a formal document issued by the monarch that enables someone to sit in a Parliament under the United Kingdom's Westminster system. At the beginning of each new Parliament, each person who has established their right to attend ...

by delivering, either at the central office of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, or a district registry, a written

memorandum A memorandum ( : memoranda; abbr: memo; from the Latin ''memorandum'', "(that) which is to be remembered") is a written message that is typically used in a professional setting. Commonly abbreviated "memo," these messages are usually brief and ...

either giving his

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

's name or stating that he defends in person. He must also give notice to the

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...

of his appearance, which ought, according to the time limited by the writ, to be within eight days after service; a defendant may, however, appear any time before judgment. The ''

Rules of the Supreme Court The Rules of the Supreme Court (RSC) were the rules which governed civil procedure in the Supreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales from its formation in 1883 until 1999. The RSC applied to all civil cases in the Supreme Court in England ...

'', orders xii. and xiii., regulate the procedure with respect to the entering of an appearance, the giving of notice, the limit of

time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

, the setting aside and the general effect of default of appearance. In

county court A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...

s there is no appearance other than the coming into court of the parties to the suit. In

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

cases the accused appears in person. In

civil cases Civil law is a major branch of the law. Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1982. p. 2. In common law legal systems such as England and Wales and the United States, the term refers to non- criminal law. The law r ...

infants appear by their guardians ''ad litem'';

lunatics Lunatic is an antiquated term referring to a person who is seen as mentally ill, dangerous, foolish, or crazy—conditions once attributed to "lunacy". The word derives from ''lunaticus'' meaning "of the moon" or "moonstruck". History The ter ...

by their committee; companies by a solicitor; friendly societies by the

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...

or other officer appointed to sue or be sued on behalf thereof.

Forms

An appearance may occur when a party physically appears in a court proceeding, or through the filing of a written document with the court. Failure to appear in a timely manner may result in the entry of a default against the non-appearing party. By default, a party's appearance in a court proceeding is unconditional. The effect is to acknowledge the court's jurisdiction over the party who has made the appearance, and to waive any irregularity in service or commencement of proceedings. In order to avoid conceding jurisdiction, waiving irregularities, or both, a party may file a conditional appearance. A conditional appearance has two primary forms, the limited appearance, which disputes liability to the limited extent of identified property, and the special appearance, which allows a defendant to dispute the personal jurisdiction of the court over the defendant so as to avoid default while the defendant seeks the dismissal of the action. A conditional appearance may be both conditional and special.

Limited appearance

A limited appearance is a term used in the

United States law The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as v ...

civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or case may be commenced; what ki ...

to describe a civil defendant's appearance in a

quasi in rem A ''quasi in rem'' legal action (Latin, ''"as if against a thing"'') is a legal action based on property rights of a person absent from the jurisdiction. In the American legal system the state can assert power over an individual simply based o ...

action in the court of another state to dispute liability to the limited extent of the value of the property seized by that court. This strategy allows the defendant to dispute only that amount seized, though this amount is less than the total amount in controversy, thus limiting his personal liability. Before the advent of this procedural device, a defendant faced the dilemma of either allowing his property to be seized with no defense and sold at sheriff's sale to partially satisfy the claim against him or, on the other hand, to appear in court to dispute the claim but in the process expose himself to the full

in personam ''In personam'' is a Latin phrase meaning "against a particular person". In a lawsuit in which the case is against a specific individual, that person must be served with a summons and complaint (E&W known as Particulars of Claim (CPR 1999) to give ...

jurisdiction of the court and therefore the entire amount in controversy.

Special appearance

A special appearance is a term used in the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

to describe a civil

's appearance in the

of another

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

solely to dispute the

personal jurisdiction Personal jurisdiction is a court's jurisdiction over the ''parties'', as determined by the facts in evidence, which bind the parties to a lawsuit, as opposed to subject-matter jurisdiction, which is jurisdiction over the ''law'' involved in the ...

of the court over that defendant. Prior to the advent of this procedure, defendants had to either appear in the other state's court to defend the case on the merits, or not show up in court at all, and then mount a

collateral attack ''Res judicata'' (RJ) or ''res iudicata'', also known as claim preclusion, is the Latin term for "a matter decided" and refers to either of two concepts in both civil law and common law legal systems: a case in which there has been a final judgm ...

on any

judgment Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to decision-making, make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct u ...

rendered against them, when the

came to the defendant's state to collect on the judgment. In a legal

catch-22 ''Catch-22'' is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it uses a distinctive non-chr ...

, if the defendant appeared solely to contest jurisdiction, the court would then be permitted to assert jurisdiction based on the defendant's presence. In response to the apparent inequity presented by this situation, most states have passed

statutes A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

permitting the defendant to make a special appearance in the courts of the state to contest jurisdiction, without further subjecting themselves to the jurisdiction of the court. The equivalent of such an appearance is possible in

U.S. federal courts The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government. The U.S. federal judiciary consists primari ...

, for the defendant may make a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. Beginning in the late 1990s, adherents of the sovereign citizen's movement have attempted to use the special appearance to question the jurisdiction and competence of courts where the point is moot. The most prevalent use of the special appearance is in any criminal court, as special appearances are only recognized in the civil rules of procedure and the civil courts. Thus, the term special appearance has no meaning in the context of a criminal court, as anyone committing, or having been indicted for or charged with committing or otherwise alleged to have committed a criminal offense are de jure within the jurisdiction of the criminal courts, whatever their residence or national citizenship.

References

{{reflist Legal terminology