plaignant

Plaignant is a legal term used in French-speaking jurisdictions to designate the party who brings a case before a court by filing a complaint or initiating an action. The feminine form is plaignante. In English translations, the word is usually rendered as plaintiff or complainant. The term emphasizes the initiator of the legal process rather than the defender.

In criminal proceedings, the plaignant is the person who lodges a plainte with the police or gendarmerie. The act may initiate an investigation and, depending on the procedure, entitle the plaignant to participate as a civil party (partie civile) and seek damages for harm suffered. The plaignant is typically the victim of the alleged wrongdoing, but not always the only possible claimant.

In civil actions, the party who initiates the claim is generally described as the demandeur or requérant, though the label of plaignant can appear when the action originates from a complaint or when the focus is on the filing of the process rather than the procedural posture. The opposing party is the défendeur or intimé. The terminology varies by jurisdiction and procedural context, but plaignant consistently denotes the initiator of a legal action or complaint.