Judgment No. SC 24/18 Civil Appeal No. SC 455/16 to define the issues and thereby to inform the parties in advance of the case they have to meet and so enable them to take steps to deal with it.” 25.9 In a paper: A Judge’s View Point, the Role of Pleadings presented by Justices Rares of the Federal Court of Australia and Richard White of the Supreme Court of New South Wales at a judge’s symposium, the learned judges remarked: “Precise formulation of the applicant’s rights in the initiating document is of central importance. This is because the pleading is the source from which many other consequences flow in the life of the litigation from filing at first instance through to final resolution in the High Court. The pleading will be used as the reference point for the seeking of particulars, the administering of interrogatories (which is virtually extinct), the obtaining of an order for discovery if the court is satisfied this is required, the issue of subpoenas, the calling of evidence, the relevance and admissibility of evidence, the closing arguments, the reasons for judgments and the availability of arguments on appeal. At all of these points, the following questions arise: “Was this issue pleaded?” and “How was this issue pleaded?” The question is not the loose one whether the argument could possibly be raised on the evidence at the conclusion of a hearing but whether the issue has been pleaded …” [26] I associate myself entirely with the above remarks made by eminent jurists both in this jurisdiction and internationally. The position is therefore settled that pleadings serve the important purpose of clarifying or isolating the triable issues that separate the two litigants. It is on those issues that a defendant prepares for trial and that a court is called upon to make a determination. Therefore a party who pays little regard to its pleadings may well find itself in the difficult position of not being able to prove its stated cause of action against an opponent. REQUISITES FOR PLEADING A CONTRACT [27] In an action based on a contract, the material averments that must usually be made are the existence of the contract, the relevant terms of the contract and the applicability of those terms to the particular right forming the basis ex contractu of the claim – 13