The ABC’s of Civil Litigation for Beginners

When it comes to knowing the law, sometimes certain phrases will be used that you may not understand. Take civil litigation for example. What is it, who is involved in it and why is it used are some of the most common questions that have been asked about litigation of this type. Any type of litigation is just dealing with the laws that deal with certain subjects. As with this subject, this type of litigation is civil. This means that it deals strictly with disputes between companies or individuals as opposed to the criminal law.

Civil litigation deals with compensation to a victim. This is where it differs from other branches of the law such as administrative law for example. This branch of the law will deal specifically with the areas of probate, wills, torts contract disputes and the like. This type of law deals with a right and wrong, settling disputes and honoring agreements. This is a more civilized way to deal with this as opposed to martial law for example. If there is a victim, there is restitution. It is just that simple. This is considered to be more civilized than other forms of justice.

This is what civil litigation would mean in those countries that have common law legal systems. Another name for this is simply common law. The United States as well as other countries do practice this form of law. Now there is also a system of law that is practiced that bears the name civil law and it is practiced by places such as Switzerland for example. Civil law in this case is a different matter and goes by customs. The approach to this is also different. Take for example Switzerland and their form of litigation.

While the civil litigation in the US is handled with a high degree of independence, the sources for the law in Switzerland will be different than here. Our laws are usually legislated and done by case. In Switzerland the laws are different. They go by legislation and statues that have been in place for years. Each of the forms of litigation will be different and controlled differently. Plainly speaking anything having to do with civilians is what this type of litigation is all about. Take for example personal injury law. This is an example of litigation in the civil sense.

So the act of civil litigation does not include such things as criminal cases such as drug related charges for example. An example for a civil form of litigation would be something similar to Workman’s Compensation cases. This is not the only example that can be given here. Cases of libel, slander and negligence are considered to be civil cases and not criminal cases by the law that governs the civil side of things. The doctrine of equality is what drives civil law unlike other forms of litigation. This is basically the way that litigation of this sort is done both here in the US and abroad. It only varies according to country of origin.