Pleadings serve an important function of providing notice to the defendant that a lawsuit has been instituted concerning a specific controversy or controversies. It also provides notice to the plaintiff of the defendant's intentions in regards to the suit. Old common law rules of pleading were complicated and rigourous. Meritorious complaints were often thrown out of court for technical flaws in form rather than substance. Today, in most if not all states, a pleading must no longer conform to archaic formats but may be a simple petition or complaint setting forth the relevant facts and asking for a remedy.
Pleadings are part of a larger category of procedural rules.