Talk:Litigant in person

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How is a litigant in person different from a pro se? Josh Cherry 11:36, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

It is an identical concept. The only difference appears to be one of jurisdiction and terminology. In the UK, the term 'litigant in person' is used. The Latin tag 'pro se' appears to be the favoured term in the USA. It may be appropriate to combine the two pages and to tease out the slight jurisdictional differences in defining the powers and limitations of the litigant in person. Personally I prefer the term 'litigant in person' since it is more easy to understand for the English speaker. JPF 15:00, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I, too, think the artciles should eb combined. I will put merge tags.—msh210 05:47, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
  • Based on my review of the two articles, I agree to the merge. I don't know much about British terminology though. Mneumisi 16:47, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
  • I disagree wholeheartedly. Here's the difference: Pro Se means "you are representing yourself" (as if you are a corporation and you are standing in to represent the corporation at court.) In the eyes of the court, you are now held to a lawyer's standard (lawyers have to be perfect in their briefs, filings, dates, etc. They cannot make any mistakes or the paper/filing is invalid.) However, if you are sui juris (unrepresented) they have to hold you to a less stringent standard (you are a common man, not a lawyer.) These two items are polar opposites as regards the common law and should be kept as separate definitions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dwhiteside327 (talk • contribs)
  • The comments by Dwhiteside327 (above) and MikeHovell (on Talk:Pro se) suggests that there is a reason to keep these articles separate. I am therefore removing the merge template. --Lox (t,c) 21:06, 2 January 2008 (UTC)