Proceeding
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Proceeding
A lawsuit; all or some part of a cause heard and determined by a court, an Administrative Agency, or other judicial authority. Any legal step or action taken at the direction of, or by the authority of, a court or agency; any measures necessary to prosecute or defend an action.
The word proceeding may be used for all actions or it may be used for something other than the usual type of lawsuit. For example, a special proceeding may be a particular procedure for handling a certain type of dispute. Special proceedings may be commenced by a petition or motion even when no full-fledged lawsuit is pending. They usually are confined to disputes that were not recognized under the Common Law or in Equity. For example, a proceeding to challenge decisions made by administrative agencies may be a special proceeding.
A summary proceeding is governed by accelerated methods that produce a quick decision. This is done by elimination of a jury, a presentment, or indictment, or other elements that are allowed in regular proceedings. Summary proceedings are available only for certain types of cases, such as small claims, or in certain courts, such as a conciliation or Small Claims Court.
Supplementary proceedings are separate from the original action. They help a successful party collect what is owed on a judgment by summoning the defendant-debtor, requiring that individual to disclose what he or she owns, and ordering that it be delivered in order to satisfy the judgment.
proceeding
n. any legal filing, hearing, trial and/or judgment in the on-going conduct of a lawsuit or criminal prosecution. Collectively they are called "proceedings" as in "legal proceedings."
PROCEEDING. In its general acceptation, this word means the form in which
actions are to be brought and defended, the manner of intervening in suits,
of conducting them, the mode of deciding them, of opposing judgments and of
executing.
2. Proceedings are ordinary and summary. 1. By ordinary proceedings are
understood the regular and usual mode of carrying on, a suit by due course
at common law. 2. Summary proceedings are those when the matter in dispute
is decided without the intervention of a jury; these must be authorized by
the legislature, except perhaps in cages of contempts, for such proceedings
are unknown to the common law.
3. In Louisiana, there is a third kind of proceeding, known by the name
of executory proceeding, which is resorted to in the following cases: 1.
When the creditor's right arises from an act importing a confession of
judgment, and which contains a privilege or mortgage in his favor. 2. When
the creditor demands the execution of a judgment which has been rendered by
a tribunal different from that within whose jurisdiction the execution is
sought. Code of Practice, art. 732.
4. In New York the code of practice divides remedies into actions and
special proceedings. An action is a regular judicial proceeding, in which
one party prosecutes another party for the enforcement or protection of a
right, the redress or prevention of a wrong, or the punishment of a public
offence. Every other remedy is a special proceeding. Sec. 2.