Civil / Criminal
After criminal offences have been committed, it is criminal law that invariably brings the victim to Court to seek justice. It is a series of government agencies and institutions whose goals are to identify and catch unlawful individuals to inflict a form of punishment on them.
Overlapping Jurisdictions
Some types of action may have both Criminal and Civil Implication.
What is Civil Litigation
Civil litigation is the process of dispute resolution through the Civil court system. Civil law gives to individuals the right to apply to the Court for compensation from others for breach of contract, defamation or negligence or require others to act in specific ways (injunctions, actions for specific performance).
Types of Dispute?
If you feel that you’ve been wronged but it’s not a criminal matter then you may be able to commence civil proceedings against someone. The kinds of disputes that are dealt with under civil law include disputes such as:-
- Landlords and tenants
- Neighbours
- Customers and suppliers
- Business partners
- Buyers and sellers of property
- Home owners and builders
- Employees and employers
- Creditors and debtors
- Accident victims
Different kinds of legal cases have different time limitations imposed. It is important to understand when this may be and always try to issue proceedings early.
Overlap
A single action may result in a number of different type of legal result, for example, there is often an overlap between claims in contract and those in negligence.
The Civil Litigation Process
Most types of dispute follow similar paths whether it be in the Employment Tribunal, Family Court or Civil Court.
In order to ensure certain standards are met, there are rules as to what is expected. Each Court and Tribunal have their own set of rules. For Civil Litigation, the rules are the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR).
We have set out the general process that is followed and provided more detail about the CPR The Civil Litigation process
Areas of Practice.
Steadfast Solicitors only advise where we are confident that we can give good advice. We routinely advice in the following areas.
Invariably, when we are first contacted, we will identify the key issues in your case, some times we will ask for documents to ensure that we have a proper understanding of the issues that you face. This is to ensure that we are properly able to deal with the matter, if you do decide to instruct our firm.