IV.   Consensus

A Claim is an unproven assertion or formal legal complaint, also known as a “Cause of Action”, that something is true or that some performance or action is due.

The word Claim originates from the Latin clamo/clamare meaning "to shout, cry out, proclaim, to call upon”.

The most common form of pursuit and resolution of a Claim is through the lodgment of a Statement of Claim via civil procedure of the relevant jurisdiction of a juridic person.

A Statement of Claim must generally present only one Cause of Action via the detailing of a series of alleged facts, also known as “elements”. The most common causes of action include (but are not limited to): physical injury (assault, battery, negligence), intentional identity/reputation injury (invasion of privacy, slander, identity theft), intentional emotional injury, fraud and unjust enrichment.

Generally, the named party within a Statement of Claim is called to answer the complaint through formal response to admit, deny, request more information, move to dismiss on technical fault or lodge a counterclaim. Failure to answer through the prescribed form defined by statute of the juridic person is to admit the facts of the Cause of Action and a Summary Judgment may be awarded.

The use of private forms not recognized by statute of the juridic person having jurisdiction in response to a claim may be correctly interpreted as the absence of a valid objection and therefore a Summary Judgment may be awarded.

A counterclaim in response to a statement of claim is a wholly separate Cause of Action and while it may refer to similar facts and circumstances must be written as if the original claim did not exist. A counterclaim that references and rebuts another claim is not therefore a valid counterclaim, but an objection in the wrong form, therefore null and void.