Procedural Law

Procedural law, also called adjective law or rules of court, comprises the rules by which a court hears and determines what happens in civil, criminal or administrative proceedings. The cited article explains that these rules are designed to ensure a fair and consistent application of due process, or fundamental justice in other common law countries, to every case that comes before a court. It distinguishes procedural law from substantive law, which supplies the claim and defense whose validity the procedures test, and it notes that procedural rights include access to justice, the right to counsel, public participation and the presumption of innocence. Doctrines grouped under this entry concern how proceedings are conducted rather than what the parties' underlying rights are.