Demurrer
Encyclopedia
A demurrer is a pleading
in a lawsuit that objects to or challenges a pleading filed by an opposing party. The word demur means "to object"; a demurrer is the document that makes the objection. Lawyers informally define a demurrer as a defendant saying "so what" to the pleading.
Typically, the defendant
in a case will demur to the complaint
, but it is also possible for plaintiff
to demur to an answer
. The demurrer challenges the "legal sufficiency" of a claim, cause of action, or to the defenses set forth in an answer. If a cause of action in a complaint does not state a cognizable claim (e.g., the claim is nonsense) or if it does not state all the required elements, then the challenged cause of action or possibly the entire complaint can be "thrown out" with a demurrer. A demurrer is typically filed near the beginning of a case, in response to the plaintiff filing a complaint or the defendant answering the complaint.
At common law
, a demurrer was the pleading through which a defendant would challenge legal sufficiency of a complaint in criminal or civil cases, but today the pleading has been discontinued in many jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom
and the U.S. federal court system
(though some state jurisdictions, including California
and Virginia, retain it). In criminal cases, a demurrer was considered a common law
due process
right, to be heard and decided before the defendant was required to plead "not guilty", or make any other pleading in response, without having to admit or deny any of the facts alleged.
An important distinction about a demurrer is that the party filing the demurrer is not allowed to challenge the facts alleged in the complaint, nor can a demurrer contest the ultimate merits of a case or claim. For example, where a complaint alleges the defendant "drove through a red traffic light," the demurring party cannot attach evidence to the demurrer (e.g., a photograph) showing the traffic signal was green. This "no evidence on a demurrer rule" is manifested in the law. Specifically, when ruling on a demurrer a judge is required to assume as true or proved all material facts alleged in the complaint, even if those facts appear fabrications by the complainant or easily disproved during litigation of the case.
The sole exception to this no evidence rule is that a judge may take judicial notice
of specified narrow categories of facts or documents (such as public records) that either contradict the face of the complaint or are material facts not subject to challenge. For example, if the complaint alleges that an event occurred on a specified date and that date establishes on the face of the complaint that the party's filing was too late (beyond the statute of limitations), a judge can take judicial notice of a standard Gregorian calendar
, calculate the difference between the present date and the date the complaint alleges a wrongful act occurred, and determine if the complaint was timely filed. Then the judge can sustain a demurrer on the basis that the complaint's date-related allegations indicate it was filed too late ("the statute of limitations has run"), unless the plaintiff can show a typographical error (a so-called "scrivener's error") occurred in the drafting of the complaint.
. A demurrer to a complaint can terminate a lawsuit. Although a plaintiff may demur to a defendant’s answer to a complaint or the defendant's affirmative defense
s, a demurrer to an answer is less common because it may be a poor strategic move. A demurrer to an answer may simplify a lawsuit, but it usually will not end the lawsuit; it is normally used only when the plaintiff intends to move for summary judgment in their favor at the earliest opportunity and needs to preemptively attack some of the defendant's affirmative defenses.
Technically, a "demurrer" is not a motion; a party does not file a motion for demurrer nor move the court to demur. Rather, a demurrer is a particular type of pleading and "demurring" is the act where a party formally requests the court to dismiss a cause of action ("claim") or the entire complaint.
In lay terms, a judge who "sustains" a demurrer is saying that the law does not recognize a legal claim for the facts stated by the complaining party. If the judge "overrules" a demurrer, the court is allowing the claim or case to proceed.
In legal terms, the demurring party asserts that the complaint or counterclaim does not amount to a legally valid claim, even if the factual allegations contained in the complaint or counterclaim are accepted as true.
Usually a demurrer attacks a complaint as missing one or more required elements of a claim. For example, a negligence
cause of action
must allege that: 1) the defendant owed a duty
to the plaintiff; 2) the defendant breached the duty; 3) the breach caused plaintiff injury; and 4) the plaintiff suffered damage. A defendant could demur by saying that the complaint failed to plead one or more of these essential elements.
Demurrers may seek to invoke legal principles that protect certain forms of conduct against legal liability, even if that conduct is suspect or morally dubious. For example, if plaintiffs sued a neighbor for negligence, asserting that the neighbor owed them a duty to assist in protecting against a burglary at the plaintiffs' home, most jurisdictions would dismiss this claim because a neighbor has no legal duty to protect other neighbors against a burglary. Similarly, a complaint for breach of a promise to marry could be met by a demurrer because the law in most jurisdictions expressly prohibits such claims on public policy grounds (while there may be claims for damages on a breach of promise to marry, U.S. courts are not going to force someone to marry another).
Because a demurrer challenges legal sufficiency, a judge could reach different outcomes, on the same facts, in different jurisdictions, if the law between the two states differs. In the United States, if a complaining party sued for libel but failed to assert that the allegedly libelous statement is false, the claim could be dismissed on a demurrer or a motion to dismiss. In the United Kingdom, falsity is not a required element of libel and the analogous request to dismiss would not be sustained.
When a cause of action is abolished, a plaintiff who seeks to allege such a cause could be met with a successful demurrer. For example, for many years someone who could prove their spouse was sleeping with another could sue the spouse's lover for alienation of affection. Most states have abolished this cause of action, so such a complaint would be dismissed.
Demurrers are decided by a judge rather than a jury. The judge either grants the demurrer by sustaining it, or denies it by overruling the demurrer. If the demurrer is overruled, the defendant is ordered to file an answer within a certain period of time or else risk a default judgment
. Once the answer is filed, then the case is said to be "at issue" (because there are now a complaint and answer on file opposing each other), and the case proceeds to the discovery
stage.
In the alternative, a judge may sustain a demurrer "with prejudice" or "without prejudice." With prejudice means the plaintiff cannot file another complaint attempting to fix insufficiencies of the previous complaint. If the demurrer is granted without prejudice, the plaintiff may correct errors filing a corrected, amended complaint. Demurrers granted with prejudice are rare and reserved for when the judge determines a plaintiff cannot cure or fix the complaint by rewriting or amending it. Because leave to amend is so liberally granted, a demurrer usually is only filed if a plaintiff refuses to repair a fatally deficient complaint or if the complaint cannot ever be supported by law. Many courts will fine or sanction a party who files a demurrer for improper motive, for example, to harass or intimidate the opposing party.
Because a plaintiff can correct errors by amending the complaint, technical or drafting errors are often dealt with by the defendant's lawyer sending a letter to plaintiff counsel. The letter details the errors and typically offers plaintiff counsel the opportunity to file a corrected complaint ("amended complaint"). Defense counsel do not send the letter to be nice. Most courts require this informal resolution procedure before a party files a demurrer. This is because judges do not want demurrers taking up the court's time when in all likelihood the offending party by law will be given the opportunity to "repair" the offending complaint.
or other similar charging instrument. Traditionally, if the defendant could admit every allegation of the indictment and still be innocent of any crime, then a general demurrer would be sustained and the indictment would be dismissed. A special demurrer refers to an attack on the form, rather than the substance, of the charge: if the defendant correctly identifies some defect "on the face" of the indictment, then the charges are subject to being dismissed, although usually the indictment can be re-drawn and re-presented to the grand jury
or other charging authority. Demurrers and special pleas have been abolished in U.S. federal criminal procedure: an attack on the prosecution's case prior to trial is generally made by means of motion to dismiss.
Firstly, an application on notice can be made for summary judgment
in favor of the Defendant. Secondly, the court has power to strike out the Particulars of Claim.
In order to have a non-meritorious claim dismissed, however, the distinction between the two procedures is that when the Particulars of Claim are struck out, the Claimant usually has another opportunity to file an amended Particulars of Claim, within (say) four weeks, whereas Summary Judgment is final (subject to appeal).
In criminal law demurrer is obsolete, although not formally abolished. It has been superseded by the more modern motion to quash, usually a verbal application to the judge to rule the indictment
null and void and to stop the case (demurrer was pleaded in writing).
s, the demurrer was expressly abolished by Rule 7(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
when the FRCP went into effect on September 16, 1938. The demurrer was replaced by the Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
The demurrer was abolished after American lawyers came to realize that the pleadings should frame only those issues that will be actively litigated through motion practice once both sides have fully stated their positions and the case is "at issue." Although the demurrer technically also framed the issues in a case, treating the demurrer as a pleading came to be seen as irrational because it was the only pleading that required an immediate hearing and ruling on its content (which consisted of an attack upon the complaint), while the complaint and the answer merely stated the respective positions of each side but did not require hearings in and of themselves. Thus, it made sense that a discretionary attack upon the complaint that was already being drafted, calendared, heard, and ruled upon like a motion should simply be treated in reality like one.
Having accomplished its task of purging the demurrer from federal courts, Rule 7(c) was deemed obsolete by the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules during the latest revision cycle for the FRCP (which took place from 2002 to 2007). It was therefore deleted from the version of the FRCP which went into effect on December 1, 2007.
in a minority of U.S. state court systems. For example, demurrers are still used in California
and Virginia
state court civil practice. Additionally, when children are removed from their parents and taken into foster care in California, the parents may challenge the sufficiency of the dependency complaint by means of a motion akin to demurrer, which operates similarly to a demurrer. The term preliminary objection is used for a similar procedural device in Pennsylvania
state court and governed by Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1028(a)(4).
A majority of U.S. states (about 35) have adopted civil procedure rules modeled after the FRCP and therefore have abolished the demurrer and replaced it with the motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Thus, for example, in Texas
and Ohio
demurrers are specifically prohibited.
Pleading
In law as practiced in countries that follow the English models, a pleading is a formal written statement filed with a court by parties in a civil action, other than a motion...
in a lawsuit that objects to or challenges a pleading filed by an opposing party. The word demur means "to object"; a demurrer is the document that makes the objection. Lawyers informally define a demurrer as a defendant saying "so what" to the pleading.
Typically, the defendant
Defendant
A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute...
in a case will demur to the complaint
Complaint
In legal terminology, a complaint is a formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons that the filing party or parties In legal terminology, a complaint is a formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties In...
, but it is also possible for plaintiff
Plaintiff
A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
to demur to an answer
Answer
Generally, an answer is a reply to a question or is a solution, a retaliation, or a response that is relevant to the said question.In law, an answer was originally a solemn assertion in opposition to some one or something, and thus generally any counter-statement or defense, a reply to a question...
. The demurrer challenges the "legal sufficiency" of a claim, cause of action, or to the defenses set forth in an answer. If a cause of action in a complaint does not state a cognizable claim (e.g., the claim is nonsense) or if it does not state all the required elements, then the challenged cause of action or possibly the entire complaint can be "thrown out" with a demurrer. A demurrer is typically filed near the beginning of a case, in response to the plaintiff filing a complaint or the defendant answering the complaint.
At common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
, a demurrer was the pleading through which a defendant would challenge legal sufficiency of a complaint in criminal or civil cases, but today the pleading has been discontinued in many jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the U.S. federal court system
United States federal courts
The United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...
(though some state jurisdictions, including California
California law
California law consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law.-Constitutional law:...
and Virginia, retain it). In criminal cases, a demurrer was considered a common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
due process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
right, to be heard and decided before the defendant was required to plead "not guilty", or make any other pleading in response, without having to admit or deny any of the facts alleged.
An important distinction about a demurrer is that the party filing the demurrer is not allowed to challenge the facts alleged in the complaint, nor can a demurrer contest the ultimate merits of a case or claim. For example, where a complaint alleges the defendant "drove through a red traffic light," the demurring party cannot attach evidence to the demurrer (e.g., a photograph) showing the traffic signal was green. This "no evidence on a demurrer rule" is manifested in the law. Specifically, when ruling on a demurrer a judge is required to assume as true or proved all material facts alleged in the complaint, even if those facts appear fabrications by the complainant or easily disproved during litigation of the case.
The sole exception to this no evidence rule is that a judge may take judicial notice
Judicial notice
Judicial notice is a rule in the law of evidence that allows a fact to be introduced into evidence if the truth of that fact is so notorious or well known that it cannot be refuted. This is done upon the request of the party seeking to have the fact at issue determined by the court...
of specified narrow categories of facts or documents (such as public records) that either contradict the face of the complaint or are material facts not subject to challenge. For example, if the complaint alleges that an event occurred on a specified date and that date establishes on the face of the complaint that the party's filing was too late (beyond the statute of limitations), a judge can take judicial notice of a standard Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
, calculate the difference between the present date and the date the complaint alleges a wrongful act occurred, and determine if the complaint was timely filed. Then the judge can sustain a demurrer on the basis that the complaint's date-related allegations indicate it was filed too late ("the statute of limitations has run"), unless the plaintiff can show a typographical error (a so-called "scrivener's error") occurred in the drafting of the complaint.
Civil cases
A demurrer is commonly filed by a defendant in response to a complaint filed by the plaintiffPlaintiff
A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
. A demurrer to a complaint can terminate a lawsuit. Although a plaintiff may demur to a defendant’s answer to a complaint or the defendant's affirmative defense
Affirmative defense
A defendant offers an affirmative defense when responding to a plaintiff's claim in common law jurisdictions, or, more familiarly, in criminal law. Essentially, the defendant affirms that the condition is occurring or has occurred but offers a defense that bars, or prevents, the plaintiff's claim. ...
s, a demurrer to an answer is less common because it may be a poor strategic move. A demurrer to an answer may simplify a lawsuit, but it usually will not end the lawsuit; it is normally used only when the plaintiff intends to move for summary judgment in their favor at the earliest opportunity and needs to preemptively attack some of the defendant's affirmative defenses.
Technically, a "demurrer" is not a motion; a party does not file a motion for demurrer nor move the court to demur. Rather, a demurrer is a particular type of pleading and "demurring" is the act where a party formally requests the court to dismiss a cause of action ("claim") or the entire complaint.
In lay terms, a judge who "sustains" a demurrer is saying that the law does not recognize a legal claim for the facts stated by the complaining party. If the judge "overrules" a demurrer, the court is allowing the claim or case to proceed.
In legal terms, the demurring party asserts that the complaint or counterclaim does not amount to a legally valid claim, even if the factual allegations contained in the complaint or counterclaim are accepted as true.
Usually a demurrer attacks a complaint as missing one or more required elements of a claim. For example, a negligence
Negligence
Negligence is a failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances. The area of tort law known as negligence involves harm caused by carelessness, not intentional harm.According to Jay M...
cause of action
Cause of action
In the law, a cause of action is a set of facts sufficient to justify a right to sue to obtain money, property, or the enforcement of a right against another party. The term also refers to the legal theory upon which a plaintiff brings suit...
must allege that: 1) the defendant owed a duty
Duty of care
In tort law, a duty of care is a legal obligation imposed on an individual requiring that they adhere to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseeably harm others. It is the first element that must be established to proceed with an action in negligence. The claimant...
to the plaintiff; 2) the defendant breached the duty; 3) the breach caused plaintiff injury; and 4) the plaintiff suffered damage. A defendant could demur by saying that the complaint failed to plead one or more of these essential elements.
Demurrers may seek to invoke legal principles that protect certain forms of conduct against legal liability, even if that conduct is suspect or morally dubious. For example, if plaintiffs sued a neighbor for negligence, asserting that the neighbor owed them a duty to assist in protecting against a burglary at the plaintiffs' home, most jurisdictions would dismiss this claim because a neighbor has no legal duty to protect other neighbors against a burglary. Similarly, a complaint for breach of a promise to marry could be met by a demurrer because the law in most jurisdictions expressly prohibits such claims on public policy grounds (while there may be claims for damages on a breach of promise to marry, U.S. courts are not going to force someone to marry another).
Because a demurrer challenges legal sufficiency, a judge could reach different outcomes, on the same facts, in different jurisdictions, if the law between the two states differs. In the United States, if a complaining party sued for libel but failed to assert that the allegedly libelous statement is false, the claim could be dismissed on a demurrer or a motion to dismiss. In the United Kingdom, falsity is not a required element of libel and the analogous request to dismiss would not be sustained.
When a cause of action is abolished, a plaintiff who seeks to allege such a cause could be met with a successful demurrer. For example, for many years someone who could prove their spouse was sleeping with another could sue the spouse's lover for alienation of affection. Most states have abolished this cause of action, so such a complaint would be dismissed.
Demurrers are decided by a judge rather than a jury. The judge either grants the demurrer by sustaining it, or denies it by overruling the demurrer. If the demurrer is overruled, the defendant is ordered to file an answer within a certain period of time or else risk a default judgment
Default judgment
Default judgment is a binding judgment in favor of either party based on some failure to take action by the other party. Most often, it is a judgment in favor of a plaintiff when the defendant has not responded to a summons or has failed to appear before a court of law...
. Once the answer is filed, then the case is said to be "at issue" (because there are now a complaint and answer on file opposing each other), and the case proceeds to the discovery
Discovery (law)
In U.S.law, discovery is the pre-trial phase in a lawsuit in which each party, through the law of civil procedure, can obtain evidence from the opposing party by means of discovery devices including requests for answers to interrogatories, requests for production of documents, requests for...
stage.
In the alternative, a judge may sustain a demurrer "with prejudice" or "without prejudice." With prejudice means the plaintiff cannot file another complaint attempting to fix insufficiencies of the previous complaint. If the demurrer is granted without prejudice, the plaintiff may correct errors filing a corrected, amended complaint. Demurrers granted with prejudice are rare and reserved for when the judge determines a plaintiff cannot cure or fix the complaint by rewriting or amending it. Because leave to amend is so liberally granted, a demurrer usually is only filed if a plaintiff refuses to repair a fatally deficient complaint or if the complaint cannot ever be supported by law. Many courts will fine or sanction a party who files a demurrer for improper motive, for example, to harass or intimidate the opposing party.
Because a plaintiff can correct errors by amending the complaint, technical or drafting errors are often dealt with by the defendant's lawyer sending a letter to plaintiff counsel. The letter details the errors and typically offers plaintiff counsel the opportunity to file a corrected complaint ("amended complaint"). Defense counsel do not send the letter to be nice. Most courts require this informal resolution procedure before a party files a demurrer. This is because judges do not want demurrers taking up the court's time when in all likelihood the offending party by law will be given the opportunity to "repair" the offending complaint.
Criminal cases
In criminal cases, a demurrer may be used in some circumstances to challenge the legal sufficiency of the indictmentIndictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
or other similar charging instrument. Traditionally, if the defendant could admit every allegation of the indictment and still be innocent of any crime, then a general demurrer would be sustained and the indictment would be dismissed. A special demurrer refers to an attack on the form, rather than the substance, of the charge: if the defendant correctly identifies some defect "on the face" of the indictment, then the charges are subject to being dismissed, although usually the indictment can be re-drawn and re-presented to the grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
or other charging authority. Demurrers and special pleas have been abolished in U.S. federal criminal procedure: an attack on the prosecution's case prior to trial is generally made by means of motion to dismiss.
England and Wales
In civil law a demurrer as such is no longer available under the current law of England and Wales. However, two similar procedures may be employed where claims without merit need to be expeditiously dismissed.Firstly, an application on notice can be made for summary judgment
Summary judgment
In law, a summary judgment is a determination made by a court without a full trial. Such a judgment may be issued as to the merits of an entire case, or of specific issues in that case....
in favor of the Defendant. Secondly, the court has power to strike out the Particulars of Claim.
In order to have a non-meritorious claim dismissed, however, the distinction between the two procedures is that when the Particulars of Claim are struck out, the Claimant usually has another opportunity to file an amended Particulars of Claim, within (say) four weeks, whereas Summary Judgment is final (subject to appeal).
In criminal law demurrer is obsolete, although not formally abolished. It has been superseded by the more modern motion to quash, usually a verbal application to the judge to rule the indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
null and void and to stop the case (demurrer was pleaded in writing).
Federal courts
In civil cases in the United States district courtUnited States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
s, the demurrer was expressly abolished by Rule 7(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern civil procedure in United States district courts. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enabling Act, and then the United States Congress has 7 months to veto the rules promulgated or they become part of the...
when the FRCP went into effect on September 16, 1938. The demurrer was replaced by the Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
The demurrer was abolished after American lawyers came to realize that the pleadings should frame only those issues that will be actively litigated through motion practice once both sides have fully stated their positions and the case is "at issue." Although the demurrer technically also framed the issues in a case, treating the demurrer as a pleading came to be seen as irrational because it was the only pleading that required an immediate hearing and ruling on its content (which consisted of an attack upon the complaint), while the complaint and the answer merely stated the respective positions of each side but did not require hearings in and of themselves. Thus, it made sense that a discretionary attack upon the complaint that was already being drafted, calendared, heard, and ruled upon like a motion should simply be treated in reality like one.
Having accomplished its task of purging the demurrer from federal courts, Rule 7(c) was deemed obsolete by the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules during the latest revision cycle for the FRCP (which took place from 2002 to 2007). It was therefore deleted from the version of the FRCP which went into effect on December 1, 2007.
State courts
A demurrer can be made by the defendantDefendant
A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute...
in a minority of U.S. state court systems. For example, demurrers are still used in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
state court civil practice. Additionally, when children are removed from their parents and taken into foster care in California, the parents may challenge the sufficiency of the dependency complaint by means of a motion akin to demurrer, which operates similarly to a demurrer. The term preliminary objection is used for a similar procedural device in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
state court and governed by Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1028(a)(4).
A majority of U.S. states (about 35) have adopted civil procedure rules modeled after the FRCP and therefore have abolished the demurrer and replaced it with the motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Thus, for example, in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
demurrers are specifically prohibited.