process – the means of compelling a defendant to appear in court (civil or criminal cases), and all the acts of the court from the beginning to the end of an action or proceeding

     This page is continued from Legal Precepts Adopted into U.S. Law (from Europe) through the Constitution >>>> Roman “Civil Republic” State Law >>>> State Law Consists of Two Parts >>>> Adjective Law >>>> Procedure >>>> Process:

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process:
n. (14c.)

1. The proceedings in any action or prosecution <due process of law>.

2. A summons or writ, especially to appear or respond in court <service of process>. — aka judicial process; legal process. [1]

1. A series of actions, motions, or occurrences; progressive act or transaction; continuous operation or treatment; a method of operation or treatment. Martin v Minerals Separation North American Corporation (DC Md) 29 F Supp 146.

2. In a broad sense, all of the acts of the court from the beginning to the end of an action or proceeding. Blair v Maxbass Secur. Bank, 44 ND 12, 176 NW 98.

5. The means by which the purposes of the law may be applied and executed as between private litigants or as between the state and an accused.  In a technical sense, the means of compelling a defendant to appear in court, whether in a civil or criminal case.  A writ, warrant of arrest, or other means of subjecting person or property to the jurisdiction of the court. 42 Am J1st Proc § 2.
See due process of law; service of process.[2]

1. In a broad sense, all of the acts of a court from the beginning to the end of an action or proceeding; the means by which the law is applied and carried out.

2. In a technical sense, the means of compelling a defendant to appear in court in a civil case. EXAMPLES: a summons; a writ; a warrant.

3. In a criminal case involving a petty offense or an infraction (EXAMPLES: littering; a traffic violation), the means of compelling a defendant to appear in court, used as an alternative to arrest (EXAMPLE: a citation).

4. A series of actions or occurrences; a progressive transaction; a continuous operation.

     See actual service of process; constructive service of process; compulsory process; foreign service of process; malicious abuse of process; malicious use of process; mesne process; original process; personal service of process; service of process; substituted service of process; trustee process; void process. [3]

     Excerpt from Joseph Chitty’s A Practical Treatise on the Criminal Law:
 
     “Process is so denominated because it proceeds or issues forth in order to bring the defendant into court, to answer the charge preferred against him, and signifies the writs or judicial means by which he is brought to answer. [4]  
 
    Excerpt from C.J.S.’s Process:
 
     “The term ‘process’ is not limited to ‘summons.’ In its broadest sense it is equivalent to, or synonymous with, ‘procedure,’ or ‘proceeding.’  Sometimes the term is also broadly defined as ‘the means whereby a court compels a compliance with its demands.’ 
 
    ‘Process’ and ‘writ’ or ‘writs’ are synonymous, in the sense that every writ is a process, and in a narrow sense of the term ‘process’ is limited to judicial writ in an action, or at least to writs or writings issued from or out of a court, under the seal thereof and returnable thereto; but it is not always necessary to construe the term so strictly as to limit it to a writ issued by a court in the exercise of its ordinary jurisdiction. [5]

 

Related Terms:

due process – the conduct of legal proceedings according to established rules, forms, and principles for the protection and enforcement of private rights, including notice and the right to a fair hearing before a tribunal with the power to decide the case.

  • procedural due process – a regular course of justice, which is not unreasonable or arbitrary, with minimal requirements of notice and a hearing especially if the deprivation of a significant life, liberty, or property interest may occur, in pursuance of an effective remedy secured by the law and the state.
  • substantive due process – the doctrine that the Due Process Clauses of the 5th and 14th Amendments require legislation to be fair and reasonable in content and to further a legitimate governmental objective, and the freedom from arbitrary or capricious in making, interpreting, or enforcing the law.
    • economic substantive due process – the doctrine that certain social policies, such as the freedom of contract or the right to enjoy property without interference by government regulation, exist in the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, particularly in the words “liberty” and “property.”

abuse of process – improper, intentional, tortious use of civil or criminal process to obtain a result that is either unlawful or beyond the purpose for which such process was designed. — aka abuse of legal process; malicious abuse of process; malicious abuse of legal process; wrongful process; wrongful process of law.

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Other Forms of the Term “Process”
Not Directly Related to Court Proceedings:

1. A method of producing something from raw material. Producing by chemical action, by the operation or application of some element or power of nature, or by adding one substance to another. Corning v Burden (US) 15 How 252, 267, 14 L Ed 683, 690.

2. In patent law, a manner of treatment of certain materials to produce a given result; an act or series of acts performed upon the subject matter to transform and reduce it to a different state or thing. Cochrane v Deener, 94 US 780, 24 L Ed 139. [2]

1. In patent law, an act or series of acts performed upon matter to transform and reduce it to a different state or thing.

2. A method of producing something from raw material by applying additional elements or ingredients. [3]

References:

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[1]: Black’s Law Dictionary Deluxe Tenth Edition by Henry Campbell Black, Editor in Chief Bryan A. Garner. ISBN: 978-0-314-61300-4

[2]: Ballantine’s Law Dictionary with Pronunciations
Third Edition
 by James A. Ballantine (James Arthur 1871-1949).  Edited by William S. Anderson.  © 1969 by THE LAWYER’S CO-OPERATIVE PUBLISHING COMPANY.  Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 68-30931

[3]: Ballantine’s Law Dictionary Legal Assistant Edition by Jack Ballantine (James Arthur 1871-1949).  Doctored by Jack G. Handler, J.D. © 1994 Delmar by Thomson Learning.  ISBN 0-8273-4874-6.

[4]: 1 Joseph Chitty, A Practical Treatise on the Criminal Law 338 (2d ed. 1826)

[5]: 72 C.J.S. Process 5 2, at 589 (1987). 

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