from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
PLEDGES, pleading. It was anciently necessary to find pledges or sureties to
prosecute a suit, and the names of the pledges were added at the foot of the
declaration; but in the course of time it became unnecessary to find such
pledges because the plaintiff was no longer liable to be amerced, pro falsa
clamora, and the pledges were merely nominal persons, and now John Doe and
Richard Roe are the universal pledges; but they may be omitted altogether; 1
Tidd's. Pr. 455; Arch. Civ. Pl. 171; or inserted at any time before
judgment. 4 John. 190.