Types of Legal Proceeding | The Law Advisory
A legal proceeding is an action, litigation, arbitration, suit, proceeding (involving any criminal, investigative, appellate, administrative, and civil proceeding), inquiry, examination, investigation, audit or hearing commenced, conducted, heard, or brought before or by, or otherwise concerning, any Governmental Body or court or any arbitrational panel of arbitrators.
Following are some types of legal proceedings through which the legal advisors, plaintiffs, and defendants have to go through.
Legal action
Legal actions are recognized under statutory law or common law. Legal action is when someone infringes upon the protected rights of a person and that person seeks compensation in the court against the infringing party with the help of TheLawAdvisory services.
Legal action comprises many different types. Some of the widely known legal actions are a lawsuit, motion, order of protection, restraining order, etc.
Lawsuit
A legal lawsuit means any proceeding taken by a party against another one in the court. In a legal lawsuit, a plaintiff takes legal action against someone in a court of law with the help of a law advisor or alone. A plaintiff is someone who has supposedly incurred harm due to the actions of the defendants and demands an equitable or legal remedy. It is required by the defendant to answer the complaint of the plaintiff.
If the judge gives judgment in favor of the plaintiff he/she remains successful. Then, the court of law imposes a right, enforce a permanent or temporary injunction for compelling an act or preventing an act or award damages. A judge may also issue a declaratory judgment for preventing legal disputes in the future.
Litigation
The legal proceedings started between two conflicting parties to defend or enforce legal rights are considered the legal litigation process. Typically, litigation is settled through an agreement between both parties, otherwise, it proceeds to trial and the judge decides the fate of the case.
It is widely considered that litigation and a lawsuit are the same things, but this is untrue. The litigation process consists of several stages and incorporates all activities that took place before, after, and during a lawsuit for enforcing the concerning legal rights. The litigation process not only includes the lawsuit, but it also incorporates arbitrations, appeals, facilitation, and pre-lawsuit negotiations.
Arbitration
The legal tactic of solving disagreements outside the court of law is called arbitration. In arbitration, both parties involved chose an arbitral tribunal, arbiters or arbitrators, who propose a decision so that both parties can agree on it. Legal arbitration can also be called dispute settlement, this process is chosen because both parties tend to avoid dispute resolution through public litigation.
Arbitration is mostly used when disputes are related to commercial matters. However, one must not confuse it with meditation. The arbitrator obliges to resolve the dispute by keeping in mind specific rules in the arbitration process, whereas the task of the mediator is to convince both parties to compromise.
Hearing
If an agreement cannot solve certain issues in a case, then a hearing is scheduled by the presiding judge. Hearings are meant for particular issues as your case is legally proceeding. They might be evidentiary i.e. requiring testimony or evidence to be presented, or they might be non-evidentiary i.e. only oral arguments will be heard by the judges and no formal testimony or evidence will be demanded.
Typically, both parties should be present throughout all hearings of the court. After cases are presented by both parties, a ruling will be passed on the concerned issue by the judge, and both parties will have to abide by the passed ruling.
Trial
A trial is conducted by the judge to resolve the whole case once and for all. The trial duration exceeds a single day. Both parties require extensive preparation for it and need to be physically present along with their respective witnesses. The Petitioner presents their case first, while the Respondents go second. Both parties have the chance of cross-examining the witnesses of the other party. In the end, a ruling is passed by the judge for all issues.
Inquiry
The proceedings that a Magistrate or Court conducts are considered inquiry. Primarily, an inquiry targets to determine the reality of the falseness of face or reported crime. It can be of both judicial and non-judicial nature.
Investigation
The steps that a police officer takes are called an investigation. A magistrate doesn’t have any involvement in the process of investigation. The magistrate authorizes a person on his/her behalf to conduct the investigation. The investigation mainly contains the procedure for collecting evidence. The process of investigation is not judicial.
This article provides a detailed account regarding legal proceedings. Acknowledge yourself with what are legal proceedings and what are their different types. Know about the different legal actions taken through a case and what role legal advisors, judges, plaintiffs, police officers and defendants play in it.