Definition of Procedural Law

To understand the function or purpose of the right procedural, we must understand that law as a branch of humanistic knowledge is divided into two large groups. One of them is known as substantial law, that is, one that refers to the different matters or substances that give entity to the norms and rules: criminal law, civil law, the financial law, etc. On the other hand, procedural law is the second group that is considered not substantial if not procedural in the sense that it establishes the processes, the procedures and the rules for each of these subgroups, that is, so that in practice it is known how to proceed in each case.

Continuing with this explanation, we can say that procedural law is broader and more comprehensive than other branches of law since each of them is interested in a subject (for example, the tax law, the international right, the administrative law). In this sense, procedural law is not exclusive to any of these branches but, on the contrary, it exists in all them as a determining point to act and to carry out the processes considered necessary or correct in each case.

There are three important concepts for procedural law which are the following: jurisdiction, action and process. Through the idea of ​​jurisdiction, procedural law establishes the extension of the functions of each branch of the right, indicating to which each case belongs and, if necessary, why it may be an issue shared by several branches together. Furthermore, jurisdiction also has to do with the capabilities and limitations of each court.

Action is the act by which the whole movement judicial in each of the branches of law. Thus, with it begins the third concept: the judicial process that must be based on behavioral guidelines, functioning and proceed specific for each judicial area.