Answer (law)

In law, an answer was originally a solemn assertion in opposition to someone or something, and so came to mean any counter-statement, defense, reply or objection. In the common law, an answer is the first pleading by a defendant, usually filed and served upon the plaintiff within a strict time limit after a civil complaint, or a criminal information or indictment, has been served upon the defendant. It may be preceded by an optional pre-answer motion to dismiss or a demurrer; if such a motion is unsuccessful, the defendant must file an answer to the complaint or risk an adverse default judgment. In a criminal case there is usually an arraignment or some other appearance first, and the plea entered on the record in open court is generally guilty or not guilty. Private civil cases, by contrast, generally enter no plea of guilt or innocence and end in a judgment granting money damages or an equitable remedy such as restitution or a permanent injunction. The Roman responsa prudentium, the answers of the learned ones, were the accumulated views of successive generations of Roman lawyers and gradually became authoritative legal opinion.