Edict is defined in modern law as a mandate, ordinance or decree published by the authority of the prince, magistrate, judge or administrative authority in order to promulgate a provision, give notice of the celebration of an act, make a resolution public or to officially calls someone. 

The etymological meaning of the word Edict comes from the Latin <<edictum>> which at the same time comes from the verb <<edicere>> which means to prevent, warn or proclaim aloud. This word also contains <<dicere>> which means “to tell”. 

This legal tool was created for the first time in Roman Law around the 4th century BC. as a procedural communication used by the cities praetors (praetores urbanus) as part of the litigation of the Roman citizens. Later, this faculty would be extended to the praetor peregrinus who could proclaimed about situations in which foreigners also could intervened. This action of generating public announcements was known as ius edicendi, and it granted the praetors the power to publish an annual edict which established the old and new norms that would govern their actions during their mandate of approximately one year (lex annua). In the event of an unforeseen event, the praetor had the power to generate a specific edict for this case (Edictum repentinum). 

Henceforth, the edict became an imperial formula that only the sovereign stablished and reformed, about some situation concerning to the justice or administration of his empire as part of the imperial constitutions. This is the time of important imperial edicts, that transcended history such as the Milan of Constantine that granted freedom of religion in the Roman Empire, and that of Thessalonica promulgated by Theodosius that would return to Christianity its official religion. The Theodoric (503 year) is one of the last edicts considered within Roman law, but with the Bavarian mark. 

The Royal Spanish Academy, in its Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Legal Spanish, defines the Edict in a general way as «Announcement that is displayed on an official notice board, whether physical or electronic, for the publication of provisions or resolutions.» Additionally, in Administrative and Procedural Law it is defined as «Announcement published in official newspapers for the knowledge of interested persons who are not parties to the proceedings in question or whose address is ignored.» 

The Mexican Legal Dictionary of the Institute of Legal Research (1994) written by Ignacio Medina Lima defines an Edict as “Public notification made by an administrative or jurisdictional body, of an agreement or resolution that must be known for its fulfillment or for legal effects in relationship with those interested in the matter they concern. » And «this class of communication acts, which may include locations, notifications, citations, requirements, etc., is carried out in the cases specifically indicated by law when it is not possible to carry them out through personal notifications to the recipients and their effects are equated to them. » Additionally, it is mentioned: «At the time when the aforementioned procedural codes were elaborated in Mexico, it is not found.»