Legal Definitions - special pleading

The term "special pleading" has evolved in meaning over time. While it originated in a highly technical legal context, it is now more commonly used to describe a particular type of argument.

Special pleading primarily refers to:

• An argument that is unfairly biased or selectively presents information to support a particular viewpoint, often by ignoring inconvenient facts or counterarguments. It involves creating an exception for oneself or one's position without a valid, universal principle.

  • Example 1: A city council member advocates for a new tax on sugary drinks, citing numerous studies on public health benefits. However, when asked about the potential negative impact on small businesses that sell these drinks, they dismiss these concerns by stating, "Those businesses just need to adapt," without offering any solutions or acknowledging the specific economic hardship. They refuse to consider any data or arguments that contradict their preferred policy.

    Explanation: This illustrates special pleading because the council member selectively emphasizes favorable data (health benefits) while dismissing legitimate counterarguments (economic impact on small businesses) without a fair, balanced consideration, effectively creating an exception for their preferred policy's downsides.

  • Example 2: A student asks for an extension on a major assignment, citing personal stress and a heavy workload. However, this same student has previously argued against extensions for other classmates, stating that "everyone has a heavy workload, and deadlines are deadlines."

    Explanation: This is an instance of special pleading because the student is attempting to create a unique exemption for themselves based on a reason they previously dismissed as invalid for others, applying a different standard to their own situation.

• Historically, in common law, "special pleading" referred to a highly technical system of written exchanges between parties in a lawsuit. This system required strict adherence to complex rules for drafting legal documents, often leading to cases being decided based on procedural errors rather than the actual facts or merits of the dispute.

  • Example 1: Imagine a lawsuit in 17th-century England where a farmer sued a neighbor over a disputed property line. The farmer's lawyer meticulously drafted the initial complaint, but in a subsequent written response to the neighbor's defense, accidentally used the word "trespass" instead of the technically required "ejectment" for that specific type of land dispute. Under the strict rules of special pleading, the entire case could be dismissed on this minor technicality, preventing a trial on whether the property line was actually crossed.

    Explanation: This demonstrates special pleading in its historical sense because the case's outcome would be determined by a precise, hyper-technical detail in the legal documents rather than by examining the actual facts of the property dispute.

  • Example 2: In a colonial American court, a merchant sued a debtor for unpaid goods. The debtor's lawyer filed a defense, and the merchant's lawyer responded. If the merchant's written response failed to follow the exact, prescribed format for denying the debtor's specific claims – perhaps by not using a particular legal phrase or ordering the arguments incorrectly – the court might rule against the merchant purely on this procedural flaw, regardless of whether the debt was genuinely owed.

    Explanation: This exemplifies the historical special pleading system, where the strict adherence to complex procedural rules for drafting legal documents often overshadowed the substantive merits of the case, leading to decisions based on technicalities.