For tag files, the default is scriptless, but, for Classic and Simple tags, and because the JSP is invalid for Classic tags, there's no default value for body-content, so you have to choose one explicitly.
The default value for tag files is "Scriptless". While for classic and simple tags <body-content> tag is mandatory in .tld file so it do not make any sense to have default value for them. [ July 23, 2007: Message edited by: Amit Goyal ]