In maritime law . A deviation from the course prescribed in the policy of insurance .In pleading. The statement of matter in a replication , rejoinder, or subsequentpleading, as a cause of action or defense, which is not pursuant to the previouspleading of the same party, and which does not support and fortify it. 2 Williams,Saund. 84a, note 1; 2 Wils. 98; Co. Litt 304a; Railway Co. r. Wyler, 158 U. S. 285, 15 Sup. Ct 877, 39 L. Ed. 983.A departure, in pleading, is when a party quits or departs from the case or defensewhich he has first made, and has recourse to another. White v. Joy, 13 N. Y. 83; Allenv. Watson, 16 Johns. (N. Y.) 205; Kimberlin v. Carter, 49 Ind. 111.A departure takes place when, in any pleading. the party deserts the ground that hetook in his last antecedent pleading, and resorts to another. Steph. PI. 410. Or, in otherwords, when the second pleading contains matter not pursuant to the former, andwhich does not support and fortify it. Co. Litt. 304a.. Hence a departure obviously cannever take place till the replication. Steph. PI. 410. Each subsequent pleading mustpursue or support the former one; t. e., the replication must support the declaration ,and the rejoinder the plea, without departing out of it 3 Bl. Comm. 310.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
