Formulary Procedure
An important aspect of the Praetor's Edict concerned formulary procedure. During the late Republic, the trial at civil law increasingly employed formulary procedure. In this process, the Praetor first determines the legal issue in a pending case. Then the Praetor decides on a prescriptive formula which instructs what remedy will be appropriate depending on what facts are found. Then the Praetor assigns the case to a iudex for trial. After the facts are determined at trial, the iudex gives judgment according to the formula.
The Praetor's Edict contained many different principle of law, often drawing on prior legal rulings. Besides the trial formulas, it also regulated procedural matters, such as the initiation of a legal suit. In time, such sample formulae became listed by the Praetor in his Edict issued at the beginning of his term of office.
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