Pure Plea
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
In equity pleading. One which relies wholly on some matter dehors the bill; as, for example, a plea of a release on a settled account. Pleas not pure are so called in contradistinction to pure pleas. They are sometimes also denominated "negative pleas."
4 Bouv. Inst, note 4275.