Substantive law refers to all categories of public and private law, including the law of contracts, real property, torts, and Criminal Law. For example, criminal law defines certain behavior as illegal and lists the elements the government must prove to convict a person of a crime.
A simple explanation is: substantive law is the what and procedural law is the how. In other words, substantive law defines the acts that constitute criminal behavior and what a prosecutor must prove to convict you of a crime. Procedural law sets limits and bounds around how a prosecutor may go about proving your case.
Today, substantive law defines rights and responsibilities in all court proceedings. In criminal cases, substantive law governs how guilt or innocence is to be determined as well as how crimes are charged and punished.
Procedural Law
Procedural law establishes the rules by which court proceedings that deal with the enforcement of substantive laws are conducted Application of Criminal Procedural Law
While each state has adopted its own set of procedural laws, usually called a “Code of Criminal Procedure Sentencing in State Courts
The procedural laws of some states provide for a bifurcated or two-part trial system in which sentencing is conducted in a separate trial held after a Sentencing in Federal Courts
In the federal courts, judges themselves impose sentences based on a more narrow set of federal sentencing guidelines Sources of Procedural Laws
Procedural law is established by each individual jurisdiction. Both the state and federal courts have created their own sets of procedures. In addition Basic Elements of Substantive Criminal Law
In comparison to procedural criminal law, substantive criminal law involves the “substance” of the charges filed against accused persons Sources of Substantive Law
In the United States, substantive law comes from the state legislatures and Common Law Procedural law oversees such things as court procedures, how crimes are investigated, and what must be proven by the state to convict someone of a crime. In short, substantive law refers to the
actual laws that govern the people, and procedural law creates the mechanisms by which substantive law is enforced.The difference between substantive and procedural law is reasonably easy to establish.
Substantive law is the law that creates the right being claimed, or the law under which charges are filed. Procedural law establishes when, where and how claims are made and how the case is handled in court.
Substantive law defines the elements of a case, while procedural law focuses on the burden that is on the plaintiff to prove any wrongdoings to a jury that fit within the elements provided. Substantive law is the “substance of the case,” and procedural law provides the “procedure” that would be best to handle the substance of each particular case.
Procedural law is the set of rules by which courts in the United States decide the outcomes of all criminal, civil, and administrative cases.
Substantive law describes how people are expected to behave according to accepted social norms.
Procedural laws govern how court proceedings dealing with the enforcement of
substantive laws are conducted.
