AOS3 Flashcards
(18 cards)
what are the purposes of civil law?
- To achieve social cohesion
- To seek compensation
- to protect the rights of individuals
to provide a avenue to seek compensation
How does civil law achieve its purposes?
- Establishes the law
- Decides the law
- enforces the law
What are the types of civil law?
- defamation
- negligence
- nuisance
- family law
- contract law
- trespass laws
- wills and inheritance laws
What are the types of loss that can be claimed?
- Economic or financial loss
- property loss
- personal loss
- pain and suffering
- loss of amenity
What is limitation of actions?
The limitation of actions is the time frame that the wrong party needs to Sue the wrongdoer.
What is the burden of proof?
The burden of proof is when the plaintiff has to give evidence that the defendant is guilty.
it is not the defendants role too prove they’re not liable, but in some cases the defendant raises a counterclaim too respond to the plaintiffs claims in the same case.
What is the standard of proof?
the standard of proof is the extent to which the plaintiff has to give evidence that the defendant is guilty. it must be proved beyond all reasonable doubt. Balance of probabilities
What are the possible plaintiffs in a civil dispute?
- The aggrieved party
- Other victims
- Insurers
What does the term ‘aggrieved party’ mean?
Aggrieved party is the party that has suffered loss or damage.
What is a ‘representative proceeding’?
A representative proceeding is a group of people that bring a case to court. the group must be more than 7 people. one person is nominated as the main representative and the six people that are left are the group representatives.
Who are the possible defendants in a civil dispute?
- The wrongdoer
- employers
- person involved in the wrongdoing
- insurer’s
what is negligence?
When someone has failed to take reasonable care that was due to another
What are the elements to establish liability?
Duty of care - it needs to be proved that there was a duty of care owed to the person that was injured
Breach - there is proof that duty of care was breached
Causation - and the person suffered damage is due to the breach
What are the possible defenses that the defendant can claim?
- The defendant contributed to the situation and is partly to blame
- The defendant can claim that the plaintiff was aware of the risks involved but still continued to do the act. (volenti von fit injuria)
Define defamation
Defamation is when someone’s reputation has been damaged because of someone elses actions
What are the elements to establish defamation?
- the statement was defamatory
- that it was about the plaintiff
- the statement was published.
Statement must be untrue
What are the 9 possible defenses ?
- triviality
- Justification - Is when the statement is substantially true
- Contextual truth - is when majority of the content of the statement is substantially true.
- Absolute privilege - When the defendant has complete immunity from being sued
- Publication of public documents - Proof that the published material was a fair copy summary or extractable public document
- Fair report of proceedings of public concern - That the extract was made for educational purposes
- Qualified privilege - When the person who Richard had no malice in publishing the information, published it for good reasons
- Innocent dissemination - Will someone unknowingly distributes defamatory information
- Honest opinion - When someone state study it was their honest opinion and not a statement of fact
What are some losses that the plaintiff will suffer from defamation?
- The loss in income/wages
- loss of employment/unemployment
- mental illness as a result of defamation (emotional impact)
- Lots of reputation
