If you’re asked to explain what civil law means in simple terms then it won’t be wrong for you to state that civil law is the part of the legal system that deals with people’s relationships, property, and business agreements, rather than with criminal activity. It is a legal system based on ancient Roman law, which is used in many countries.
What is civil law?
What are the two most common types of civil law cases? To be able to answer that you should first be able to understand what would be considered a civil case?
However, civil law according to the standard legal definition is a body of rules that delineate private rights and remedies, and govern disputes between individuals in such areas as contracts, property, and family law; distinct from criminal or public law. Most European and South American countries have a civil law system.
In the United States, there are two types of law whose object is to discourage or rebuff criminal behavior or to remunerate the victims of criminal violence. Criminal law manages conduct that is or can be interpreted as an offense against the public, society, or the state—regardless of whether the quick casualty is a person. Examples are murder, assault, theft,and drunken driving. Civil law manages behavior that causes a physical issue to an individual or other private party, for example, an organization. Examples are defamation (including libel and slander), breach of contract, negligence resulting in injury or death, and property damage
Civil law is an exhaustive, systematized set of lawful rules made by legislators. A civil system plainly characterizes the cases that can be brought to court, the methodology for taking care of cases, and the punishment for an offense. Judicial authorities utilize the conditions in the pertinent common code to assess the realities of each case and settle on legislative decisions. While civil law is constantly refreshed, the objective of standardised codes is to create order and diminish biased systems in which laws are applied uniquely from case to case.
Civil court cases
Civil court cases include clashes between individuals or institutions, for example, organizations, ordinarily over cash. A civil case, as a rule, starts when one individual or business (the offended party) claims to have been hurt by the activities of someone else or business (the litigant) and approaches the court for help by filing a complaint and beginning a legal dispute.
The offended party may request that the court grant damages(cash to make up to the offended party for any mischief endured). Or may order an injunction to keep the respondent from accomplishing something or to require the litigant to do something, or may look for a declaratory judgment in which the court decides the parties’ rights under an agreement or statute.
In the long run, to analyze the case, the court by the method of an adjudicator or jury will decide the facts of the case. As such, make sense of what happened, and will apply the appropriate law to those facts. Given this use of the law to the facts, the court or jury will choose what legal outcomes eventually stream from the parties’ activities.
A case likewise may be settled by the parties, themselves. Throughout a case, the parties can consent to determine their questions and arrive at a trade-off to keep away from the cost of trial or the danger of losing at trial. Repayment frequently includes the installment of cash and can even be organized to bring about an enforceable judgment.
Civil case example and the standard of proof in civil court cases
In most civil cases, the adjudicator or jury needs to settle on a choice about which side successes depend on a standard called “preponderance of the evidence.” That implies the winner’s side of the story is more likely to be true than false. It doesn’t imply that one side acquired more evidence than the opposite side. It implies that one side’s evidence was more persuasive than the other’s.
Sometimes, the standard for making a decision is “clear and persuading evidence.” That implies the victor needs to demonstrate that his variant of the facts is credible and legitimate. It is a halfway level of confirmation, more than “preponderance of the evidence,” yet not exactly the assurance needed to demonstrate an issue “past a sensible uncertainty” (the standard in criminal cases).
Types of civil cases
Civil courts handle a wide assortment of cases, including various legal issues. Broadly, civil cases may include things such as,
Tort claims
A “tort” is an improper demonstration (at times called a “tortious” demonstration), other than a breach of contract, that results in harm to somebody’s individual, property, notoriety, or something like that, for which the harmed individual is qualified for remuneration. Cases including claims for such things as close to personal injury, battery, negligence, defamation, medical malpractice, fraud, and many others, are all examples.
Breach of contract claims
Breach of contract claims regularly results from an individual’s inability to play out some term of an agreement, regardless of whether the contract is written or verbal, without some legitimate legal excuse. Cases including claims for such things as not completing a job, not paying in full or on time, failing to deliver goods sold or promised, and many others, are all examples.
Equitable claims
An “equitable claim” implies that the court request involved will make some move or stop some activity. It could be gotten together with a case for financial harm. Situations in which a party is looking for an impermanent limiting order or directive to quit something (perhaps the destruction of property, the improper transfer of land, the solicitation of business customers) are examples.
Landlord/tenant issues
Civil courts handle debates emerging among landlords and tenants. Cases in which a landlord is trying to evict a tenant from a rental property or a tenant has moved out and sued a landlord for the return of a security deposit are examples.
Phases of recent civil cases
Most recent civil cases can be divided into the stages recorded beneath:
Pre-filing
During the pre-filing stage, the question emerges, and the parties set expectations, attempt to arrange a goal, and plan for the chance of court activity.
Initial pleading
During this stage, one party files papers (called a “complaint”) to begin the court activity, and the other party files some sort of reaction (an “answer” or possibly a “movement”).
Discovery
During the discovery stage, the two sides exchange information and find out about the qualities and shortcomings of the opposite side’s case.
Post discovery/pre-trial
In this stage, the parties begin getting ready for trial; they get their evidence and witnesses all together, they may take part in a settlement meeting, and they may file motions with the court to determine the cause or cut off the issues for trial.
Trial
During this stage, the case gets heard by the adjudicator or a jury (which could keep going for two or three hours or several months, contingent upon the multifaceted nature of the case); witnesses get investigated, the evidence gets introduced, and the case, is in the end chosen and a judgment entered.
Post-trial
During the post-trial stage, either of the parties may advance the judgment that entered at trial, or the triumphant party may attempt to gather the judgment that was entered.
However, a few out of every odd civil case follow these stages.