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Petition

A '''petition''' is a request to change something, most commonly made to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some official and signed by numerous individuals. A petition may be oral rather than written, and in this era may be transmitted via the Internet. The term also has a specific meaning in the legal profession as a request, directed to a court or administrative tribunal, seeking some sort of relief such as a court order. A petition can also be the title of a legal pleading that initiates a case to be heard before a court. The initial pleading in a civil lawsuit that seeks only money (damages) might be titled (in most U.S. courts) a ''complaint''; an initial pleading in a lawsuit seeking non-monetary or "equitable" relief such as a request for a writ of ''mandamus'' or ''habeas corpus'', or for custody of a child or for probate of a will, would instead be termed a ''petition''.

Early history

In pre-modern History of China|Imperial China petitions were always sent to an Office of Transmission (''Tongzheng si'' or ''通政司'') where court secretaries would read petitions aloud to Emperor of China|the emperor.Brook, 33. Petitions could be sent by anybody, from a Scholar-bureaucrats|scholar-official to a common farmer, although the petitions were more likely read to the emperor if they were persuasive enough to impeachment|impeach questionable and corrupt local officials from office. When petitions arrived to the throne, multiple copies were made of the original and stored with the Office of Supervising Secretaries before the original written petition was sent to the emperor. Petitions were a common form of protest and request to the British House of Commons in the 18th and 19th centuries, the largest being the Great/People's Charter, or petition of the Chartists. They are still presented in small numbers. The Petition Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of the people "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." The right to petition has been held to include the right to file lawsuits against the government.

Modern use

Notes

References

Category:Petitions Category:Protest tactics simple:Petition

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