Types of English Civil Law

by Snjeana Husinec
 CIVIL LAW
a legal system an area of law
prevalent in governing disputes
continental Europe between individuals
that is based on
written codes (as opposed to
criminal law)
(in this sense
contrasts with the
common-law system
used in England and
most of the United
States)
 CIVIL LAW (as a branch of law)
and its SUBCATEGORIES
IN CIVIL LAW SYSTEMS IN COMMON LAW SYSTEM
-an area of private law -an area of law concerned with
regulating relations between a) relations between private
individuals individuals
b) non-criminal relations between
governments and private
Basic brances: individuals or other entities
Law of property
Law of obligations
Subcategories:
(Contract law) Law of contract
Law of sucession
Law of torts
Law of property
New branches: Law of succession
Law of securities
Family law
Commercial law
Revenue law; Patents and
Copy-right law
copyright; Trade unions;
Insurance law
Administrative law
 PARTIES IN A CIVIL LAWSUIT

PLAINTIFF DEFENDANT
(CLAIMANT)
- the party against
- the party bringing a whom an action is
brought (a claim
civil action (filing a
filed)
claim) the injured
party
 THE LAW OF CONTRACT

CONTRACT
= a legally binding agreement made between two or
more persons, by which rights are acquired by one or

more to acts or forbearances on the part of the other

or others

Subcategories of the law of contract:

1. shipping contracts,
2. hire purchase,
3. sale of goods etc.
 THE LAW OF TORTS
TORT = a less serious civil wrong committed by
one citizen against another

serious enough to merit the award of

compensation
to the injured party
not serious enough to amount to the breaking of
the
the criminal law

CIVIL LIABILITY

NOT PUNISHABLE BY THE STATE

Offender tortfeasor
Action taken by the injured party
SUBCATEGORIES OF TORTS

1. Negligence
2. Nuisance
3. Defamation
4. Intentional torts
5. Statutory torts
6. Economic torts
7. Competition law
 NEGLIGENCE
an unreasonable breach of duty by one person to
another
the failure to take reasonable care to avoid
foreseeable injury to others

Example:
the modern law of negligence started with a
decomposed snail contained in a drink consumed in
a public bar; the manufacturer was sued by the
consumer for her consequent illness
 NUISANCE
unreasonable interference with a persons
use or enjoyment of property

Example:
Jones v Powell 1629 - A brewery made
stinking fumes waft to neighbors property,
damaging his documents. Because he was
a landowner, the neighbour sued in
nuisance for this damage
 DEFAMATION
- tarnishing the reputation of someone
(making factual assertion for which you cannot
provide evidence of its truth)

LIBEL SLANDER
defaming spoken defamation
somebody through
print or
broadcasting
 INTENTIONAL TORTS
any intentional acts that are reasonably
foreseeable to cause harm to an individual

AGAINST THE PERSON PROPERTY TORTS

assault trespass to land
battery trespass to chattels
false imprisonment conversion
intentional infliction of
emotional distress
fraud
 Other torts
o STATUTORY TORTS
- created by the legislature, not the courts - workplace health
and safety laws and health and safety in food produce
(consumer protection - Product Liability Directive in the EU)

o ECONOMIC TORTS
- protect people from interference with their trade or
business (eg. trade libel, conspiracy, inducement of breach of
contract etc.)

o COMPETITION LAW (ANTI-TRUST LAW)

- an important method for regulating the conduct of
business (the abuse of market power by monopolists, or the
substantial lessening of competition through merger,
acquisition, or concentration of enterprises or any other way
of distorting of competition on the market)
 REMEDIES

SELF-HELP
COMPENSATION INJUNCTION
(reasonable
IN DAMAGES (a command
force to expel
OR MONEY by the court)
a trespasser)
Remedy is the manner in which a right is enforced or satisfied by a
court when some harm or injury is inflicted upon an individual.
(pravni lijek)

Liquidated damages are an agreed-upon amount of money that

parties to a contract promise to pay if one of them breaches the
contract (specified in a clause in the contract). (ugovorena
odteta)

Unliquidated damages are sum of money that is established by

the court. (nelikvidirana/neutvrena odteta)
(Damages may be categorized as unliquidatable when the amount of damages is
unidentifiable or subject to an unforeseen event that makes the amount not
calculable.)

Trust is an arrangement whereby a person, or persons (the trustee)

has a duty to administer property for the benefit of another or
others (the beneficiary) or for a particular purpose (a charitable
purpose). (fiducijarni odnos, prijenos imovine na povjerenika)
ESSENTIAL EXPRESSIONS
a tort assault and battery
a plaintiff/claimant trespass to
a defendant property
to bring a civil trespass to chattels
action defamation
a wrong slander
negligence libel
nuisance a remedy
false imprisonment an injunction
Read the text and find the English equivalents for
the following Croatian legal terms:

graanski delikt
pravno obvezujui ugovor
neinjenje
dodjela naknade/odtete; dodijeliti/dosuditi odtetu
naknada tete iji iznos odreuje sud
graanska pravna odgovornost; smatrati odgovornim
oteena strana
krenje ugovora
osoba koja neovlateno ulazi na tue imanje;
poinitelj delikta

pravina obveza
tuiti za nemar