Form

A prototype of an instrument to be employed in a legal transaction or a judicial proceeding that includes t

he primary essential matters, theappropriate technical phrases or terms, and any additional material requi
red to render it officially accurate, arranged in suitable andsystematic order, and conducive to Adaptation
to the circumstances of the particular case.
The expression form of the statute signifies the language or structure of a statute, and, therefore, the restr
iction or command that it mightinclude, as used in the phrase in criminal Pleading "against the form of sta
tute in that case made and provided."A matter of form, asdistinguished from a matter of substancewith r
espect to pleadings, affidavits, indictments, and other legal instrumentsentails the method,style, or form
of relating the applicable facts; the selection or arrangement of terms; and other such matters without influ
encing the essentialsufficiency or validity of the instrument, or without reaching the merits.

West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc.
All rights reserved.