Legal Studies Unit 2 AOS 1- Chapter 9 and 10

Civil Law

An area of law that defines the rights and responsibilities of individuals, groups and organisations in society and regulates private disputes.

Civil Liability

The legal responsibility of a party for loss or harm caused to another party because of a breach in civil law.

Purposes of Civil Law

1. Provides guidelines for acceptable behaviour- Civil law (including tort law) establishes what behaviour is acceptable and what is not, so that people can live together in harmony and social cohesion can be achieved. If these guidelines did not exist some individuals may exploit or abuse the rights of others

2. Protect the rights of individuals- key rights are enshrined in civil law like the right to not be harmed

3. Provide an avenue for people to seek compensation where a breach of civil law has occured- Individuals can seek compensation for a breach of civil law through courts, tribunals, complaint bodies and ombudsmen. If there were no specialised bodies, disagreement would linger on in the community. Impacting social cohesion and creating disharmony.

4. Remedy harm that has been suffered- When a person’s rights have been infringed, civil law provides a way to return the harmed person as far as possible, to the position they were before the harm or loss occured through awarding civil remedies eg. damages.

Tort

term that literally means wrong, a wrong that interferes with a person’s legally protected interests.

Remedy

Any order made by a court (or a tribunal) designed to address a civil wrong or a breach. A remedy should provide a legal solution for the plaintiff for a breach of the civil law by the defendant.

Damages

An amount of money that one party is ordered to pay to another party for loss or harm suffered. It is the most common remedy in a civil claim.

Plaintiff

(In a civil case) A party who makes a legal claim against another party (I.e. the defendant) in court.

Defendant

(In a civil case) A party who is alleged to have breached a civil law and who is being sued by a plaintiff.

Sue

To take civil action against another person, claiming that they infringed some legal right of the plaintiff (or did some wrong that negatively affected the plaintiff).

Loss

A type of harm or damage suffered by a person. It can involve both economic and non-economic loss.

Breach

The plaintiff has to prove that there has been a breach by the defendant. This means that the defendant has failed to observe a law or obligation imposed on them. As the plaintiff has the responsibility, or onus, to prove their case, they need to establish that the defendant is in breach.

Causation

The plaintiff must prove that the defendant’s actions caused or resulted in the harm suffered by the plaintiff. There needs to be a causal link between the action (or inactions) of the defendant, and the harm that the plaintiff suffered). There can be an intervening event or break in the chain of causation. This happens when something occurs after the defendant’s actions, which may be considered to have actually caused the injury or loss, rather than the defendant’s actions.

Types of Loss