“Comes now” and “come now” are traditional opening phrases in legal filings that announce a party is presenting a document to the court. Use “comes now” when a single party is filing (“Comes Now the Plaintiff, Jane Smith”) and “come now” when two or more parties file together (“Come Now the Plaintiffs, Jane Smith and Robert Smith”). The choice is ordinary subject-verb agreement. Neither version is required by any court rule, and the phrase adds no legal substance to the document that follows.
What the Phrase Actually Means
It is a declaration of appearance. The line tells the judge which party is submitting the document and, by extension, asking the court to act on what follows. A typical opening reads: “Comes Now the Defendant, John Doe, and respectfully moves this Court to dismiss the Plaintiff’s Complaint.” Strip away the formality and the sentence says John Doe asks the court to dismiss the case.
The phrase itself carries no independent legal weight. It does not invoke a statute, confer jurisdiction, or trigger any procedural consequence. It is a ceremonial announcement.
Singular or Plural: Which One to Use
Match the verb to the number of parties filing the document.
- One party: “Comes Now the Plaintiff, Jane Smith.”
- Two or more parties: “Come Now the Plaintiffs, Jane Smith and Robert Smith.”
In practice, many attorneys write “Comes Now” no matter how many parties are involved, which is grammatically incorrect. If you are going to use the phrase, use the form that agrees with the subject. If you would rather not think about it, skip the phrase altogether.
Where the Phrase Sits in a Filing
It goes between the caption and the numbered paragraphs of the document. The caption is the block at the top listing the court name, case number, parties, and document type. After that header, the body begins, and “comes now” traditionally occupies the first line as a bridge between the caption and the substance.
You will see it in complaints, motions, responses, petitions, and most other documents parties file. It appears in both civil and criminal practice. Prosecutors sometimes open charging documents with “Comes Now the State of [X]” or “Comes Now the United States.” Defense attorneys use it in motions to suppress, motions to dismiss, and responses. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 7 says that an indictment or information “need not contain a formal introduction or conclusion” and requires only “a plain, concise, and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged.”1Cornell Law School: Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 7 – The Indictment and the Information
No Rule Requires It
This is the point that matters most if you are deciding whether to use it. No federal rule mandates the phrase, and leaving it out will not get your filing rejected. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8 states that “[e]ach allegation must be simple, concise, and direct” and that “[n]o technical form is required.”2Cornell Law School: Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 8 – General Rules of Pleading Rule 10 lists what a pleading must contain: a caption with the court’s name, a title, a file number, a document designation, and numbered paragraphs. No introductory phrase is mentioned.3Cornell Law School: Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 10 – Form of Pleadings
State courts generally take the same approach. Civil procedure rules across most states require pleadings to be simple, concise, and direct without prescribing any particular introductory language. Some state-court form templates still include “Comes Now” as boilerplate, which gives attorneys the impression it is required when it is merely customary. A filing that opens with “The Plaintiff respectfully requests…” instead of “Comes Now the Plaintiff…” will be treated identically by the court.
Cleaner Ways to Open a Filing
If you want to drop the phrase, you have straightforward options. The simplest is to open with the party’s name and what they want: “Plaintiff Jane Smith moves to compel production of documents.” Another approach identifies the document itself: “This is Defendant’s response to the motion for summary judgment.” Either version tells the reader who is filing, what the document is, and what it asks for, which is all the “Comes Now” line ever did.
Some attorneys worry that skipping the phrase will look informal or inexperienced. The opposite is closer to the truth. Experienced litigators in federal court routinely leave it out, and doing so signals familiarity with modern practice rather than reflexive attachment to templates. If you are filing before a judge known to prefer traditional formatting, matching local expectations is reasonable. The phrase will not hurt your filing. It just will not help it either.
Why the Phrase Exists
The wording traces back to English common law, which shaped early American legal practice. Medieval English court proceedings used Law French, a specialized dialect of Norman French that lawyers continued to use for centuries after the Norman Conquest. Documents from that era were dense with ceremonial language meant to convey the formality of appearing before a royal court. American courts inherited that vocabulary along with the substantive principles.
Most of the ceremonial language has since fallen away. “Comes now” endured partly because it sits at the very top of a filing, making it one of the first things a new attorney copies from an older template. Each generation of lawyers reproduces it not because anyone teaches it as a requirement, but because the complaint they pulled from the firm’s files last week started that way.