Topic 5 - Civil Flashcards
What is the difference between a civil and criminal case?
Criminal = somebody has broken the law
Civil = dispute between two parties
What are the names of the people involved in civil and criminal cases?
Criminal = ‘prosecution’ and ‘accused’
Civil = ‘plaintiff’ and ‘defendant’
What is the burden of proof for civil and criminal cases?
Criminal = prosecution
Civil = plaintiff
What is the standard of proof for civil and criminal cases?
Criminal = beyond reasonable doubt
Civil = balance of probabilities
What happens after criminal and civil trials (outcomes)?
Criminal = sanctions (fines, imprisonment, CCOs)
Civil = remedies (damages, injunctions)
What is the Doctrine of Precedent?
The ‘doctrine of precedent’ is the rule that a legal principle that has been established by a superior court should be followed in other similar cases by that court and lower courts.
What happens when a precedent is set in court?
It is either ‘binding’ or ‘persuasive’
- binding to lower courts
- persuasive on equal or higher courts
What does specialisation mean?
Each court looks after a specific area of Criminal Law, they ‘specialise’ in
it. Different crimes = Different court
What is administrative convenience?
- civil
- Each court hears certain cases for damages that the plaintiff is seeking
What must be proved in negligence cases?
If a plaintiff sues a defendant for negligence, the plaintiff has to prove 3 things:
1. The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care
2. The defendant breached that duty of care
3. the breach of the duty of care caused harm or loss to the plaintiff
What must be proved in a defamation case?
- The defendant published something about the plaintiff
- The thing that was published was untrue
- As a result of the publication, the plaintiff suffered loss of reputation.
