Procès-verbal

Procès-verbal (French procès, process, Late Latin verbalis, from verbum, word) is a legal term with a number of meanings:

In law

• in French and Dutch law (proces-verbaal), a detailed authenticated account drawn up by a magistrate, police officer, or other person having authority of acts or proceedings done in the exercise of his duty.
• in a criminal charge, a procès-verbal is a statement of the facts of the case
• the written minutes of a meeting or assembly

In international law and diplomacy

• in international law and diplomacy, a procès-verbal is the process of adopting corrections to the text of a treaty, by mutual agreement of the parties. As such it is a process of amendment, but is reserved for minor and non-controversial technical corrections that do not change the substance of the treaty.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.