A civil action is a noncriminal lawsuit that begins with a complaint and usually involves private parties. The plaintiff is the party filing the complaint, and the defendant is the party defending against the complaint’s allegations. By contrast, a...
civil procedure
civil case
A civil case is a private, non-criminal lawsuit, usually involving private property rights, including respecting rights stated under the Constitution or under federal or state law. For example, lawsuits involving breach of contract, probate,...
civil code
A civil code is a codification of private law relating to contracts, property, family, and obligations. Commonly, a state that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some states with a civil code, some core fields...
civil forfeiture
Civil forfeiture allows the government (typically the police) to seize — and then keep or sell — any property that is allegedly involved in a crime or illegal activity. Owners need not ever be arrested or convicted of a crime for their cash,...
civil law
Civil law refers either to the area of law that deals with the rights of persons or to a legal system based upon the codification of laws that originates from Roman Law.
Civil law, as it regards a type of law, is a branch...
civil liability
Civil liability is a legal obligation that requires a party to pay for damages or to follow other court-enforcements in a lawsuit. Different from criminal liability, which is often brought by the State to redress a public wrong, civil...
civil penalties (civil fines)
A civil penalty is a non-criminal remedy for a party’s violations of laws or regulations. Civil penalties usually only include civil fines or other financial payments as a remedy for damages. An action seeking a civil penalty can be brought...
civil procedure
Overview:
Broadly speaking, civil procedure consists of the rules by which courts conduct civil trials. "Civil trials" concern the judicial resolution of claims by one individual or class against another and are to be distinguished from "...
claim
A claim is a set of operative facts creating a right enforceable in court. The term claim is generally synonymous with the phrase cause of action, though some contexts prefer to use one of the terms over the other. For example, in the field...
claim for relief
A claim for relief is a particular set of facts that one party puts forth in a pleading in court to establish that they have a right to recover against a defendant. Stating a claim for relief is a synonym for stating a cause of action....