Request

A notice of a desire on the part of the person making it, that the other party shall do something in relation to a contract.

In general when a debt exists payable immediately, the law does not impose on the creditor to make a request of payment. But when by the express terms of a contract, a request is necessary, it must be made. And in some cases where there is no express agreement a request is also requisite; as where A sells a horse to B to be paid for on delivery, a demand or request to deliver must be made before B can sustain an action or, it must be shown that A has incapacitated himself to deliver the horse because he has sold the horse to another person. On a general promise to marry, a request must be made before action, unless the proposed defendant has married another.

A request, like a notice, ought to be in writing and state distinctly what is required to be done without any ambiguous terms.

pleading. The statement in the plaintiff's declaration that a demand or request has been made by the plaintiff from the defendant, to do some act which he was bound to perform, and for which the action is brought.

A request is general or special. The former is called the licet saepius requisitus, or "although often requested so to do;" though generally inserted in the common breach to the money counts, it is of no avail in pleading, and the omission of it will not vitiate the declaration. Whenever it is essential to the cause of action, that the plaintiff should have requested the defendant to perform his contract, such request must be stated in the declaration and proved. The special request must state by whom, and the time and place when it was made, in order that the court may judge of its sufficiency.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.