In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons that the filing party or parties ) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party or parties against whom the claim is brought ) that entitles the plaintiff to a remedy . For example, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that govern civil litigation in United States courts provide that a civil action is commenced with the filing or service of a pleading called a complaint.
This written document contains the allegations against the defense, the specific laws violated, the facts that led to the dispute, and any demands made by the plaintiff to restore justice.
In some jurisdictions, specific types of criminal cases may also be commenced by the filing of a complaint, also sometimes called a criminal complaint or felony complaint. Most criminal cases are prosecuted in the name of the governmental authority that promulgates criminal statutes and enforces the police power of the state with the goal of seeking criminal sanctions, such as the State or Crown .In the United States, the complaint is often associated with misdemeanor criminal charges presented by the prosecutor without the grand jury process.
