Legal proceeding is an activity that seeks to invoke the power of a tribunal in order to enforce a law.

Does proceeding mean before or after?

'Precede' or 'Proceed'?

Precede means "to come, be, or go before." It can also mean to surpass in rank or dignity. The closely related word proceed means "to continue after a pause" or "to begin and carry on an action." Often precede is related to time, while proceed is related to action.

What does it mean to be in proceeding?

The noun proceeding (often pluralized as proceedings) is used in legal settings to show something is happening, or moving forward: "During the legal proceedings the judge declared him mentally unbalanced."