What is civil law?

Civil law involves a matter in which a person, group of people, government agency, or company is harmed by another person, group, government agency, or company and files a lawsuit against them (sues them) to get $ for the harm or to stop the harm from happening

The person suing is the plaintiff and the person being sued is the defendant. If the plaintiff wins, they can get money to pay for the harm or the judge can order the defendant to do something or stop doing something that is harming the plaintiff.

NOTE: Legal aid doesn’t typically represent people in tort cases (cases of injury to another’s body or personal property). A few examples of tort cases include car accidents, dog bite injuries, or slip and fall accidents. Although legal aid does not help with these cases, low income persons may be able to get a private attorney to represent them in a tort case for little or no cost. Legal aid may be able to help low-income people with CIVIL legal issues.

What is criminal law?

Criminal Law involves matters in which the government prosecutes a person for allegedly breaking a law.

The government entity prosecuting the case is usually called the state; the person the government prosecutes the case against is the defendant.

Attorneys representing the state are prosecutors or district attorneys. If the state wins, the defendant will be punished with either community service, a monetary fine, probation, or jail/prison time.

What is a public defender and what do they do?

Public Defenders or court appointed attorneys can help low-income people with
criminal legal issues for free.

Sometimes one act has both criminal and civil penalties.

For example: If Dan steals Pat’s car and wrecks it, there may be criminal AND civil penalties for the act. The government can charge Dan with theft and prosecute him. Pat may also sue Dan for the money it will cost Pat to fix his car.

Learn more about this topic by listening to the Court Tour legal minute now.