Complaint

1.

A formal charge that a person named has committed an offense, preferred before a magistrate or a tribunal authorized to inquire into the probable truth of the accusation. Refers to a proceeding before a magistrate." But may include an indictment.' Implies thatan oathhas been administered.' A complaint is the initial proceeding in criminal prosecutions and examinations before magistrates, and is made upon oath. If a jurat be attached, and it be properly certified by the magistrate, as is frequently the case, it will be essentially an " affidavit," But a complaint is not necessarily an affidavit, nor are they understood as convertible terms. For, though a complaint may be reduced to writing and subscribed, it need not be certified by the magistrate, since the fact may otherwise appear from his record. And it may be merely formal, made by one who has little, it any, knowledge about the facts, and the examination consist of the depositions of other witnesses. An "affidavit," on the other hand, as the term is ordinarily used, is a sworn statement of facts or a deposition in writing, and includes a jurat— a certificate of the magistrate showing that it was sworn to before him, including the date, and sometimes also the place.'

3.

The first pleading filed by a plaintiff in a civil acti(m. The first pleading in an action; containing a statement of the cause of action, with a demand for the appropriate relief to which the party may be entitled. ' Complainant. One who prefers a charge of crime; also, he who institutes a civil suit, particularly a suit in equity. See Declaration, 3; Plaint. Compare