Querulous
Etymology
Middle English querelose, from Latin querulus, from queri to complain
- Date: 15th century
Definitions
- 1 : habitually complaining
- 2 : fretful, whining <a querulous voice>
- 3 : Peevish
Qaurrellous
From post-classical Latin querelosus (also querellosus) quarrelsome, complaining (Vulgate; 3rd cent.), painful, distressing (4th or 5th cent. in Augustine), of or relating to a dispute (6th cent.). In sense 2 after Middle French querelleux plaintive (1483 in the passage translated in quot. 1490 at sense 2; c1260 in Old French as querelous, quereleus in sense ‘quarrelsome, litigious’, and subsequently in this sense from the first half of the 16th cent. (at first in spec. sense ‘keen on lawsuits’); French querelleux). Compare Catalan querellós complaining, quarrelsome (late 13th cent. as querelos), Spanish querelloso plaintive (first half of the 13th cent.; frequently from 12th cent. as noun in spec. sense ‘plaintiff’), Portuguese quereloso quarrelsome, given to complaining (13th cent.), Italian quereloso given to complaining
Plaintiff
A plaintiff (Π in legal shorthand), also known as a claimant or complainant, is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an action) before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy, and if successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the plaintiff and make the appropriate court order (e.g., an order for damages).
In some jurisdictions the commencement of a lawsuit is done by filing a summons, claim form and/or a complaint — these documents are known as pleadings — that set forth the alleged wrongs committed by the defendant or defendants with a demand for relief. In other jurisdictions the action is commenced by service of legal process by delivery of these documents on the defendant by a process server; they are only filed with the court subsequently with an affidavit from the process server that they had been given to the defendant(s) according to the rules of civil procedure.
Not all lawsuits are plenary actions, involving a full trial on the merits of the case. There are also simplified procedures, often called proceedings, in which the parties are termed petitioner instead of plaintiff, and respondent instead of defendant. There are also cases that do not technically involve two sides, such as petitions for specific statutory relief that require judicial approval; in those cases there are no respondents, just a petitioner.
A plaintiff identified by name in a class action is called a named plaintiff.
The party to whom the complaint is against is the defendant; or in the case of a petition, a respondent. Case names are usually given with the plaintiff first, as in Plaintiff v. Defendant.
"Complainant" may also denote the complaining witness in a criminal proceeding.
