Sentence (law) - Classification

Classification

Sentences are variously classified depending on

• the legal field, or kind of action, or system it refers to:
  • civil, penal, administrative, canon, ..., sentence.
  • sentences of mere clearance, of condemnation, of constitution.
• the issuing organ (typically a monocratic judge or a court, or other figures that receive a legitimation by the system).
• the jurisdiction and the legal competence: single judges, courts, tribunals, appeals, supreme courts, constitutional courts, etc., meant as the various degrees of judgment and appeal.
• the content:
  • partial, cautelar, interlocutory, preliminar (sententia instructoria), definitive sentences.
  • sentence of absolutio (discharge) or condemnatio (briefly damnatio, also for other meanings - condemnation). The sentences of condemnation are also classified by the penalty they determine:
    • sentence of reclusion,
    • sentence of fee,
    • sententia agendi, sentence that impose a determined action (or a series of action) as a penalty for the illegal act. This kind of sentence became better developed and remained in wider use in common law systems.