CIVIL LAW
Civil law – it is a statutory regulation of legal relations between autonomous, legally equal persons and legal entities in such principal areas as property, obligation (contracts, torts), family law and inheritance.
The civil code defines civil law as the body of rules which regulates property rights and related non-property relations.
The use of the term civil law should not be confused with its use as an alternate term for private law. Civil law systems include both private law and public law.
Civil law is also called private law. It determines a person’s legal rights and obligations in many kinds of activities that involve other people. Such activities include everything from borrowing or lending money to buying a home or signing a job contract.
The great majority of lawyers and judges spend most of their time dealing with private-law matters. Lawyers handle most of the matters out of courts. But numerous situations arise in which a judge or jury must decide if a person’s private-law rights have been violated. These cases are called lawsuits or civil suits.
Civil law of England, Wales and Northern Ireland covers business related to the family, property, contracts and non-contractual wrongful acts suffered by one person at the hands of another (torts). It also includes constitutional, administrative, industrial and maritime law. Scottish civil law has its own, broadly similar, branches.
The main subdivisions of civil law are:
- family law, which includes the laws governing marriage, divorce and the welfare of children;
- the law of property, governing ownership and rights of employment, the creation and administration of trusts and the disposal of property on death;
- the law of contract, which regulates, for instance, the sale of goods, loans, partnerships, insurance and guarantees;
- the law of torts, which governs injuries suffered by one person at the hands of another, for instance, negligence, libel and malicious prosecution.
Civil cases are heard in county courts and the High Court.
VOCABULARY NOTES
legal adj. permitted by law; connected with, in accordance with, authorized or required by, the law: legal affairs; my legal adviser (e.g. a solicitor); to take legal action; the legal fare; a legal offence; free legal aid.
Syn. lawful, legitimate, licit, valid Ant. illicit, unlawful, illicit, illegitimate, criminal
legally adv. In accordance with law: legally equal persons.
Syn. lawfully
legality n. the state of being legal: the legality of an act.
Syn. lawfulness, legitimacy, validity
legalize v. to make legal: to legalize the sale of alcoholic drinks.
Syn. permit, allow, legitimize, license, sanction
lawsuit n. prosecution of a claim in a law-court; case brought before a court.
Syn. case, suit, dispute, trial, civil suit, private-law matter, claim
prosecution n. 1. the bringing of formal criminal charges against an offender in court; 2. the prosecuting party or his legal representatives; 3. (collective) person who prosecutes, together with his advisers; defence: to start a prosecution against sm.; the case for the prosecution; to make oneself liable prosecution.
