Criminal legal documents are divided into two parts according to their functions in criminal proceedings.

Legal documents have the following functions:

1, an important means to implement the law;

2. Vivid teaching materials for legal publicity;

3. A true record of relevant legal activities;

4, an important measure of comprehensive assessment of cadres.

Legal documents in a broad sense refer to all documents involving legal content, including two aspects:

1, a normative legal document with universal binding force, especially various laws, administrative regulations, local regulations and rules. ;

2. Non-normative legal documents that are not universally binding, that is, legal documents in a narrow sense, refer to non-normative documents with legal effect or legal significance made by state judicial organs, lawyers and law firms, arbitration organs, notary organs and parties to cases in order to deal with various litigation cases and non-litigation cases.

Note: State judicial organs include public security organs (including state security organs), people's procuratorates, people's courts and prison management organs. Non-normative legal documents only apply to specific people and specific things.