Defense (legal) 228102 215581228 2008-05-28T20:49:21Z Liko81 3322667 /* Civil law defenses */ {{otheruses3|Defense}} {{Unreferenced|date=July 2007}} In most [[litigation]] under the [[common law]] [[adversarial system]] the [[defendant]], perhaps with the assistance of [[lawyer|counsel]], may allege or present '''defenses''' (or '''defences''') in order to avoid [[liability]], civil or criminal. A defendant will often contest the accuracy of the allegations made against him or her in a criminal indictment or in a civil complaint. A defense, by contrast, does not depend on refuting such allegations. Instead, a defense introduces new matter, arguing that, even if the allegations against the defendant are true, the defendant is entitled to prevail for some other reason. ==Civil law defenses== In [[common law]] civil practice [[affirmative defense]]s are presented to limit or avoid liability; they are numerous and include: *Lack of [[Personal jurisdiction|personal]] or [[subject matter jurisdiction]] of the court, such as [[diplomatic immunity]] *Failure to state a [[cause of action]] or other insufficiencies of [[pleading]] *[[Statute of limitations]], [[statute of frauds]], and other defenses conferred by statute *''[[Ex turpi causa non oritur actio]]'' *''[[Volenti non fit injuria]]'' ==Defense against an attacker== Note that apart from this defense against prosecution and liability, there is also defense against an attacker, which can be a legal justification, see [[Self-defense (theory)|self defense and defense of others]], [[defense of property]]. ==See also== *[[Absolute defense (legal)]] [[Category:Law]] {{law-stub}} [[be:Алібі]] [[da:Alibi]] [[de:Alibi]] [[et:Alibi]] [[it:Eccezione (diritto)]] [[nl:Alibi]] [[pl:Alibi]] [[ru:Алиби]] [[sl:Alibi]] [[sv:Alibi]]