Petitioner

A petitioner is a person who asks a governmental institution for a legal remedy or a redress of grievances by means of a petition. In the courts, a petitioner, often called a plaintiff, submits a plea to resolve a dispute where the state or another private person has acted unlawfully, and the person against whom the action is brought is known as the respondent. Petitioning may also be directed at the legislature: a petitioner need not seek a change in existing law and often speaks for or against proposals as they progress. The term also names the seventeenth century English Petitioners, supporters of the Exclusion Bill who sent many petitions urging Charles II to summon Parliament, and who became known as the Whigs.