from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
LEAVE OF COURT. The grant by the court of something, which, without such
grant it would have been unlawful to do.
2. Asking leave of court to do any act, is an implied admission of
jurisdiction of the court, and, in those cases in which the objection to the
jurisdiction must be taken, if at all, by plea to the jurisdiction, and it
can be taken in no other way, the court by such asking leave becomes fully
vested with the jurisdiction. Bac. Ab. Abatement, A; Bac. Ab. Pleas, &c., E
2; Lawes, Pl. 91; 6 Pick. 391. But such admission cannot aid the
jurisdiction except in such cases.
3. The statute of 4 Ann. c. 16, s. 4, provides that it shall be lawful
for any defendant, or tenant, in any action or suit, or for any plaintiff in
replevin, in any court of record, with leave of the court, to plead as many
several matters thereto, as he shall think necessary for his defence. The
principles of this statute have been adopted by most of the states of the
Union.
4. When the defendant, in pursuance of this statute, pleads more than
one plea in bar, to one and the same demand, or thing, all of the pleas,
except the first, should purport to be pleaded with leave of the court. But
the omission is not error nor cause of demurrer. Lawes, Pl. 132; 2 Chit. Pl.
421; Story, Pl. 72, 76; Gould on Pl. c. 8, Sec. 21; Andr. 109; 3 N. H. Rep.
523.