procedure

The methods by which legal rights are enforced; the specific machinery for carrying on a lawsuit, including process, the pleadings, rules of evidence, and rules of Civil Procedure or Criminal Procedure.

The form, manner, and order of steps taken in conducting a lawsuit are all regulated by procedural law, which regulates how the law will be administered. Substantive Law creates and defines rights that exist under the law.

Cross-references

Civil Procedure.

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procedure n. the methods and mechanics of the legal process. These include filing complaints, answers and demurrers, serving documents on the opposition, setting hearings, depositions, motions, petitions, interrogatories, preparing orders, giving notice to the other parties, conduct of trials, and all the rules and laws governing that process. Every state has a set of procedural statutes (often called the Codes of Civil Procedure and Criminal Procedure), courts have so-called "local rules," which govern times for filing documents, conduct of the courts and other technicalities. Law practice before the federal courts operates under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure). Procedural law is distinguished from "substantive" law, which involves the statutes and legal precedents upon which cases are tried and judgments made.

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procedure noun act, action, adjective law, behavior, common practice, conduct, course, course of action, established method, habit, line of action, manner of proceeding, manner of working, matter of course, measure, method, methodology, mode, mode of operation, mode of use, modus operandi, motion, order, particular course of action, plan, plan of action, policy, practice, proceeding, process, program, proscribed form, routine, rule, scheme, set form, set format, step, strategy, system, tactics, usage, way, way of operation
Associated concepts: civil procedure, criminal procedure, judicial procedure, pretrial procedure, rule of procedure
Foreign phrases: Cursus curiae est lex curiae.The practice of the court is the law of the court.

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See also: agenda, arrangement, avenue, behavior, campaign, conduct, constant, course, custom, direction, expedient, form, guide, maneuver, manner, matter of course, method, mode, modus operandi, operation, policy, polity, practice, proceeding, process, rule, scheme, step, strategy, system