This motion has been been abolished in many states and, instead, any such arguments are to be made while presenting a regular defence to the claim or making a formal application to strike a statement of claim or applying for summary judgment.
Once a popular motion in British criminal trials to attempt to have an indictment thrown out by raising a formal and allegedly fatal defect in the charging document.
In a 1963 British case, one judge said: "I hope that now demurrer in criminal cases will be alowed to die naturally" (R v Deputy Chairman of Inner London Quarters Sessions 3 Al ER 1537 (1969).