Common counts

common counts n. claims for debt alleged in a lawsuit (included in the complaint) which are general and alleged together so that the defendant cannot squirm out of liability on some technicality on one of the counts. Common counts may include claims of debt for goods sold and delivered, for work performed, for money loaned or advanced, for money paid and repayment is due, for money received on behalf of the plaintiff, or for money due on an account stated or on an open book account. (See: complaint, count)

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COMMON COUNTS. Certain general counts, not founded on any special contract, which are introduced in a declaration, for the purpose of preventing a defeat of a just right by the accidental variance of the evidence. These are in an action of assumpsit; counts founded on express or implied promises to pay money in consideration of a precedent debt, and are of four descriptions: 1. The indebitatus assumpsit; 2. The quantum meruit; 3. The quantum valebant; and, 4. The account stated.