Civil law common law: Encyclopedia - Civil law common law

Civil law (common law)

In the common law, civil law refers to the area of law governing relations between private individuals. It also is used to describe all law outside of the criminal law context.

Civil law common law - Distinguished from criminal law

Unlike criminal law, civil law regulates relationships amongst persons and organizations. Civil law, in this sense, is usually referring to redress to civil law courts (as opposed to criminal courts) and is often used as a means to resolve disputes involving accidents (torts such as negligence), libel and other intentional torts, contract disputes, the probate of wills, and trusts, and any other private matters that can be resolved between private parties. Violations of civil law are considered to be torts or breaches of contract, rather than crimes. Depending upon the regional government, this field of law contains commercial law and some kinds of administrative law remedies, though sometimes administrative law judges adjudicate penal law violations such as parking tickets and other minor offenses.

Contractual law enforces contracts by allowing a party(the plaintiff), whose rights have been violated or breached, to collect damages and penalties from a defendant. Where monetary damages are deemed insufficient, civil courts may offer other remedies; such as forbidding someone to do an act (eg; an injunction) or formally changing someone's legal status (eg; divorce or change of name). Civil lawsuits sometimes occur as a result of criminal action, and such a lawsuit can be successful even when the defendant was found not guilty under criminal law. Some civil lawsuits, such as under the civil provisions of the U.S. federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) statutes, allow for a private right of action for damages when someone has suffered due to the violation of certain predicate crimes under federal law (such as wire and mail fraud and other specifically enumerated federal offenses).

Category: Civil law

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Civil law common law", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki