Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, sometime before 1482. The OED
(1st edition) describes "pled" as only current in Scots and dialect, with
"pleaded" the preferred form in England. Both are equally acceptable in
present-day Scotland (I've just looked in a couple of Scots law books).

"Pleaded" is quite common in the USA, too, which is the version of English
I assume Magic speaks.

When someone flees from police, do they say flee'd afterwards, or
fled?

This one has a very interesting history (see the OED). "Fleed" has
never been common, but it goes back to 1380.

Hey, it's *English*. It's not supposed to make sense!

Joyce