In our chambers it is definitely "pleaded". My judge, whom you might describe as old school, corrected me sternly on the first order I drafted for him.

In my dictionary, both are listed as acceptable, but "pleaded" is listed first.

"plea" is a noun;
"pled" is a verb

got any other brain busters for us?

Billed "a couple of hours" to this? I'm sure the client will happily pay for that.

Hours: 2.3
Narrative: Learnt English.

I have always used "pled".

C'mon presitge snobs. This is perhaps the best opportunity to posture and flaunt your mad etymological skillz.

David,

This is one of those usages which depends on whether it is spoken or written.

I think most people use "pled" more frequently when speaking. It rolls off the tongue more easily than "pleaded."

When written, however, "pled" looks "funny." That's why in briefs you'll usually fing "pleaded."

A Regian

You are all TTT. "Plea" is a noun - to express what you asshats believe is the "past tense" of "plea" you would say, "defendant entered a plea of guilty to the charge of . . . "

At least that's how we do it round these chambers.

When in doubt, consult Garner's. In this instance, it says that both are acceptable in American English but *pleaded* is best form for past tense and past participles.

I've never readed anything, bleeded anything, feeded anything, or leaded anything.

I suppose I have speeded (or sped). I have definitely needed (and not ned).

When I speak I say pled, when I write I write pled and then delete it and write pleaded.

On a related matter: if you pronounce the "t" in often, you are an idiot.

Let's have argument based in the rules of grammar or etymology.

How you may have used the word in the past or how your old old judge demands it be used are not compelling arguments in the slightest.

1:19:

Agree- plus "pled" sounds like something out of The Twa Corbies.

There is so much volatility in the job markets right now - everyone knows people who have been let go, or are scared about losing their job...I'm glad latty boy is blogging about what's important....This blog slips into irrelevancy with every post..

I prefer pled, but I'm guessing this is an analogy from lead/led. The only problem is that "plead" comes from "plea", so the analogy doesn't seem to fit.

I remember being told once to use "pleaded" for the past tense and "have/had/has pled" for the past participle (or whatever that is). Doesn't seem to be any reason for the distinction - maybe too many d sounds with had pleaded? i plead ignorance.

And to 1:22(2) - rules of grammar and etymology don't mean all that much in a language with tons and tons of irregularly conjugated verbs. :)

I prefer "pled," but my judge last year was adament that it was "pleaded."

As a student at a top-tier law school (T5), in which sort of practice (V10 only, please) would correct grammar be more important: sophisticated cross-border transactional work or complex bet-the-company litigation?

1:28 = linguistic relativist

While 'plea' is a noun, 'plead' is a verb. The issue presented is "what is the past tense of the verb plead?"

I prefer 'pled' myself.

strong verbs are just more fun. i don't like it when my english friends say "dived" instead of "dove" either.

Dear 1:29: No wonder our appellate courts are so backlogged.

I used to use "pled" until I started clerking. Now (and forever more) it will be "pleaded".

Pleaded is technically correct according style/usage dictionaries that address the word. But, pled is increasingly acceptable. I prefer pleaded and I'm under 30.

"I've billed a couple of hours this week arguing with different partners about whether "pled" or "pleaded" is the preferred past tense form of 'plead.'"

This is why in-house counsel can't stand using associates to do their work.

Isn't there some sophisticated cross-border transactional work or complex bet-the-company litigation you should be working on?

Pleaded at Justice and was the same while clerking!

I don't give a flip either way, but I am more likely to use "pled" myself.

But my judge insists that it is "pleaded." He correct my first bench memos, and he corrects every brief that we see.

I can't believe that several people here have stated the unremarkable fact that "plea" is a noun, as if that resolves this issue.

"Plead" is a verb, you clowns. The current use is "pleaded."

Similar to others, an old-school judge I interned for in SDNY informed me there's only 1 correct way- "pleaded"

I always called it "teabagging," but my judge insists that it's called "ballwarming."

Similar to others, an old-school judge I interned for in SDNY informed me there's only 1 correct way- "pleaded"

As a federal law clerk, under 30, I can tell you that all the law clerks and judges in my building insist that "pleaded" is correct (although people differ on how tolorable "pled" is).

Pleaded. So says the WSJ, the LA Times, the NY Times, and the WaPo.

"PLEAD or PLED, for pleaded. It has been correctly remarked, that there is no such word as pled in the English language. It is true that the preterite and past part. of the verb to read is pronounced red; but there is no analogy between the two verbs, except their accidental similarity of sound. The former is the Anglo-Saxon verb rædan, and is conjugated accordingly; whereas the latter is the old French plaider, and therefore cannot admit what philologists call the "strong inflexion." This vulgar mistake is often met with in our reports of legal proceedings and elsewhere. But it is not of recent origin, nor is it exclusively American; as is shown by the following example from Spenser, furnished by Richardson:

With him ..... came
Many grave persons that against her pled.--Spenser, Fairy Queen.
An old offender was caught last night in a warehouse, with a dark lantern and all the other implements of his profession, and next morning innocently plead "somnambulism" when brought before the magistrate--having no recollection of the doings of the night since he went to early in the evening, and found himself in the watch-house in the morning.--New York Paper."

Dictionary of Americanisms, by John Russell Bartlett (1848)

http://www.dictionary.net/plead

My court of appeals judge, who clerked for the Supreme Court (& so must be correct), uses pleaded.

Its pleaded, but who cares?

I like how Former CA9 Clerk thinks his post is more credible by signing it as "Former CA9 Clerk."

My client pled guilty, but I pleaded with him to change his mind.

1:22

Have you ever "ded" your property in a real estate transaction?

In Texas, perhaps; but *not* in the erudite northeast.

Agree that pleaded is best.
But the real story is that someone billed two hours on this

I seeded not sed.

Jealous, 1:51?

From Bryan Garner's Redbook (2nd ed.) at 262:
"pleaded; pled; plead. A century of pleas to use the correct past tense ("pleaded") has had little effect: "pled" is acceptable in American legal usage. Still, "pleaded" is dominant and best used in legal writing. The variant past-tense "plead" is objectionable because it looks like a present-tense verb (like "read" or "lead"). (italics substituted for quotations due to lack of html tags in ATL comments.)

So what does this mean?
"[P]leaded is dominant and best used in legal writing."
Many old-timers (i.e. partners and judges) insist on "pleaded." While it sucks to have partners who insist on sticking to their old-school (and often incorrect) ways, when you have judges insisting on "pleaded," I think it advisable to go with what the judges prefer.

Then again, with that attitude, nothing will ever change.

This blog is really starting to go down the shitter.

Illiterate poors are up 2:1 by the present count.

"Pleaded" to 190k!

"Pled" to the CWT breadline.

Based upon the United States Supreme Court's use of "pleaded" in the context of the civil procedure "well-pleaded" complaint rule, I would say it's probably the way to go. See Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company v. Mottley, 211 U.S. 149 (1908).

Pleaded is a term of art used by attorneys when referencing a criminal defendant's entry of a plea to the charged crime(s). Thus, attorneys often use pleaded as the past form of "to plea." Generally, outside of the legal world, pled is the proper past tense of "to plead."

Thus, the criminal defendant pleaded guilty to the charge of burglary, while the burglar pled with his co-conspirator not to turn him in.

Basically, if you want to embrace the eccentricities of the legal profession, you should likely use pleaded. If you don't care, you can use pled. This is often while old-school judges and senior partners prefer to use pleaded in their papers.

1:20: What's a "TTT"?

Based upon the United States Supreme Court's use of "pleaded" in the context of the civil procedure "well-pleaded" complaint rule, I would say it's probably the way to go. See Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company v. Mottley, 211 U.S. 149 (1908).

A greater, more dangerous dispute is brewing here:

1. email

2. emails <------ "plural?"

There is not such thing as "emailS." It's a "one sheep vs. two sheep" thing.

Thank you, back to your regularly scheduled WGWAGs.

Based upon the United States Supreme Court's use of "pleaded" in the context of the civil procedure "well-pleaded" complaint rule, I would say it's probably the way to go. See Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company v. Mottley, 211 U.S. 149 (1908).

1:44(b), Don't even get me started. My Judge and I had an hour long conversation about whether it was a "Dirty Sanchez", "Dirty Rodriquez", "Brown Frown" or an "Adolf Hiter". In the end we just called it a "Rusty Trombone" and called it a day.

And when asked to file a well-pleaded complaint, I pled ignorance.

Get it? The point is that we choose one or the other based on the meter and cadence of our sentences. In modern parlance, it really just turns on which one sounds better.

Guys in my law school used "pled" all the time. It was no big deal

1:19 has it right.

A series of Westlaw searches for the two words since 12.31.2007 produces the following results:

In NY:

"pleaded" (database: ny-cs-all) - 56

"pled" (database: ny-cs-all) - 35

In Tx:

"pleaded" (database: tx-cs-all) - 74

"pled" (database: tx-cs-all) - 33

Legal Aid says to use "pleaded" and they write criminal briefs all the time. I had a friend who reviewed the brief who had been a clerk who wrote "pled [sic]" about a quotation.

I vote pleaded.

What is this "we" stuff? Why are you talking in the plural?

From Merriam-Webster online (www.m-w.com):

plead

Main Entry:
plead Listen to the pronunciation of plead
Pronunciation:
\ˈplēd\
Function:
verb
Inflected Form(s):
plead·ed Listen to the pronunciation of pleaded \ˈplē-dəd\ or pled also plead Listen to the pronunciation of plead \ˈpled\; plead·ing
Etymology:
Middle English pleden, plaiden, from Anglo-French plaider, pleder, from plai plea
Date:
13th century

intransitive verb1: to argue a case or cause in a court of law2 a: to make an allegation in an action or other legal proceeding; especially : to answer the previous pleading of the other party by denying facts therein stated or by alleging new facts b: to conduct pleadings3: to make a plea of a specified nature 4 a: to argue for or against a claim b: to entreat or appeal earnestlytransitive verb1: to maintain (as a case or cause) in a court of law or other tribunal2: to allege in or by way of a legal plea3: to offer as a plea usually in defense, apology, or excuse
— plead·able Listen to the pronunciation of pleadable \ˈplē-də-bəl\ adjective
— plead·er noun
— plead·ing·ly Listen to the pronunciation of pleadingly \ˈplē-diŋ-lē\ adverb

other authorities include

google says 8,910,00 for "pleaded" and 1,420,000 for "pled"

bartlett's says:

AUTHOR: John Milton (1608–1674)
QUOTATION: She what was honour knew,
And with obsequious majesty approv’d
My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower
I led her blushing like the morn; all heaven
And happy constellations on that hour
Shed their selectest influence; the earth
Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill;
Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs
Whisper’d it to the woods, and from their wings
Flung rose, flung odours from the spicy shrub.
ATTRIBUTION: Paradise Lost. Book viii. Line 508.

nothing for pled

pleaded is demonstrably correct. The way that we settled this in our chambers when I clerked was simple: search the SCT database on westlaw for each. There are about 10,000 uses of "pleaded" and 10 uses of "pled." I later learned that it is in the supreme court's style manual. If it's good enough for them, why not the rest of us?

2:08.

Why not search ALLCASES? Wouldn't that produce a more reliable result?

Not that it matters; "pleaded" is clearly right.

pled is wrong

the united states supreme court opinions use "pleaded." if you're writing briefs, i'd use the version that's used by the court so they don't think you're a jackass.

A search of the Supreme Court database reveals the following

pled: 157

pleaded: 3000+

'nuff said

Either pleaded or pled is fine. "Plead" is not a substitute for either, although you might not know it from the way some lawyers write.

this is the best gossip of the day? put more stuff about salaries.

"The better past-tense and past-participial form is pleaded, not pled." Bryan Garner

But a Rusty Trombone isn't even remotely close to the same thing. I'm pretty sure that's when you plant your face in the rear and give a reach-around or, I suppose a "poke-around," depending on the gender of the recipient.

2:27, Bah! Damn, I knew I should have checked the citations on the briefs the parties submitted. The judge is always telling me to do my own independent research, but I slack off a bit on Fridays.

I have to vote "pleaded." My former judge, who was an epitome of a Virginia gentelman said "pleaded." Therefore, it must be right.

I have to vote "pleaded." My former judge, who was an epitome of a Virginia gentelman said "pleaded." Therefore, it must be right.

Can someone please give us a concrete definition of a rusty trombone? Lat can we get a poll about which attorneys prefer--Rusty Trombones or Dirty Sanchezes?

Current SDNY Clerk - As a former SDNY and 2d Cir clerk, I'll say "no." But thanks for asking.

Google Battle:
Pled v. Pleaded

pled 3,530,000
pleaded 8,920,000

It's definately "pleaded"--check Garner.

1:22- well written.

Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.

plead (v.)


The past tense is pleaded, pled, or plead (this last pronounced PLED), and the past participle, pleaded, pled, or plead (PLED). Pleaded, the regular weak verb form, is more frequent for both parts of speech, and the pled and plead past and past participle forms are labeled Colloquial by some dictionaries, Standard by others. 1
Plead not guilty and plead guilty are Standard idioms (His lawyer advised him to plead not guilty [guilty]), and the media almost always uses pled to report a defendant’s actions: The defendant pled [not] guilty. 2

I applaud everyone for the comments. Excellent work.

Plea: He entered a plea of guilty.
Pled: He pled guilty.
Plead: The plaintiff pleads compliance in his complaint.
Pleaded: The plaintiff pleaded compliance in his complaint.

The way I learned it: Plea/Pled = oral; Plead/Pleaded = written.

As a young Asst. DA in the Appeals Bureau 40 years ago (Westchester County, NY) I was taught it was always pleaded.

Can we also address whether the words "juridical" and "intendment" really mean anything?

I vote no.

Can we also address whether the words "juridical" and "intendment" really mean anything?

I vote no.

3:32,

You would have more credibility on matters grammatical if you learned to spell "definitely" correctly.

If you look it up in a legal usage dictionary, you will find that pleaded is preferred while pled isn't technically incorrect. I wish I could give a more specific reference, but I don't have a legal usage dictionary - my Brief Writing professor did explain this to the class just this morning and used a legal usage dictionary as authority.

How to drive my boss nuts:

"After the defendant was deposed, he pled guilty"

i clerk for an "old school" judge who requires pled. no pleaded permitted in our chambers.

Okay, does no one here have access to the OED? I don't or I would post it myself.

The Oxford English Dictionary would explain both uses, when the use of each one began, and probably convince you all that it's not worth fighting about which one is correct, but that 100 years from now, pled will almost certainly have won.

The Style Manual for the Illinois Appellate Court requires pleaded.

Let "pleaded" be hanged 'til it be dead.

This issue should be settled the way we settle every burning issue in our society: through a Supreme Court decision.

The Supreme Court votes 9-0 or 8-1 in favor of "pleaded." Only Alito (while on the Third Circuit) has used "pled" with any regularity. Every other member of the Court uses pleaded. In fact, a Westlaw search in the SCT database reveals 3194 results for "pleaded," and just 48 for "pled" (many of which, I suspect, occur only in the syllabus or headnotes).

So ordered.

Definitely "pleaded." Pled was totally unacceptable.

How about if you have a limited number of pages you're allowed to file and you're so close that "pleaded" would push you over the limit, but "pled" won't?

During my clerkship on a Circuit Court, my judge and the rest of the judges with whom my judge sat insisted on "pleaded."

2:27 has no idea what a trombone is. It requires the shaft to be pulled to different lengths to get different tones while blowing into the back - hence the term of art: rusty trombone.

There is no possible way to "poke" anything.

And it's pleaded.

4:51, that is brilliant. The fact that I've unknowingly been siding with Alito is disconcerning... enough for me to stop using "pled" for good. Alito's company is not one I'd like a place in.

"Pled" is proper. "Pleaded" is for blue-hair attorneys who desire to eat a "potatoe" with Dan Quayle.

2:27 here. There is totally a such thing as a valve trombone, so one could "poke," I suppose. I was just trying to be PC and imply that women could also receive rusty trombones, but, I guess that was pretty unnecessary. I'm pleading temporary insanity.

I thought that unknowingly siding with Alito was disconcerning. Then I learned that guys in my law school did it all the time. It was no big deal.

People who use "disconcerning" when they mean "disconcerting" should continue to use "pled."

To plea also means to beg. Consider reading the following: "With his hands tied behind his back, Yick was dragged to the trough, and with a vehement shove, his head was submerged in the murky water. Again and again Yack held the back of Yick's collar and pushed him into the water. Gasping for breath, Yick pleaded with Yack to stop. Yick pled?? Yuck.

Let's discuss whether it should be pronounced PUH-TAY-TO or PUH-TAH-TO. The judge I work for says PUH-TAH-TO. No PUH-TAY-TOs in his chambers.

The argument from accepted modern practices in favor of "pled" is equivalent in kind to accepting the propriety of the word "flammable" to protect the illiterate. The preferred past and past participle are "pleaded." Let us use it.

There's a senior attorney who at my firm who insists "plead" is the correct past tense of "to plead". I kid you not.

Apparently this person thinks it's like "to read".

Every time I change it (to "pled", mind you) this person changes it back to "plead").

Sigh.

BTW, in case you "pleaded" folks hadn't noticed, the past tense of "to lead" is "led".

And the past tense of "to read" is "read" and the past tense of "to plead" is "pleaded". What's your point, 3:14?

Both are right....

The Office of the Solicitor General uses "pleaded."

google at 2:16:

I think it should have readed

And happy constellations on that hour
Sheaded their selectest influence; the earth

instead of "shed"

The original email claimed "I've billed a couple of hours this week arguing with different partners about whether 'pled' or 'pleaded' is the preferred past tense form of 'plead.'"

Seriously, you billed this to a client?

Scottish Grammarian at 11:32:

"Flammable" is different because the word was created by the executive branch. And, given the current SC makeup, that branch can do whatever it pleases.

doesn't anyone else use "pled" spelled as "plead"? that is my preference and i use it except when filing briefs with the supreme court.

"Pleaded" is probably used more than "pled" because it fits into the English convention of using -ed as a suffix to indicate a verb is in the past tense. I disagree with those who suggest that just because "pled" is an irregular form of past tense that its use is incorrect or confusing. In our chambers (and I also work for an "old school judge"), there is no hard and fast rule on this topic. If anyone really wants to discuss the Supreme Court's grammatical usage, they should check out which Justices add an additional "s" to make a singular word possessive.

this poll is flawed