This document provides an overview of civil law procedures, including the objectives of civil law enforcement and process service. It defines civil law and its role in regulating disputes between individuals. The summary explains that civil law involves two parties - a plaintiff who brings a case against a defendant. It can result in compensation between parties rather than criminal punishment. The document further details various aspects of the civil procedure process, from pleading, serving, discovery, trial, verdict and potential appeals. It also outlines key areas of civil law like tort, contract, property and family law.
2. Objectives
• To explain civil law enforcement
procedures.
• To understand civil process service and
how it is used in civil legal cases.
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3. Civil Law
• Is a system of laws which regulates
personal or private matters and governs
disputes between individuals
• Creates, defines and regulates the rights
and duties of individuals
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4. Civil Law
• Includes two parties
– plaintiff
• the person who brings a case against another
in a court of law
• the person who a civil law has allegedly been
committed against by the defendant
– defendant
• the person who the case is brought against in
a court of law
• the person who allegedly committed the civil
crime against the plaintiff
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5. Civil Law
• Includes punishment by compensation
between parties for damages rather than
criminal sentence
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6. Civil Law
• Can result in law enforcement officer
involvement, such as:
– preventing or stopping assault
• one party assaulting another
• defendant assaulting a person serving legal
documents regarding their case
– mediating disagreements between parties
– defusing a hostile situation between parties
– enforcing punishment for civil wrongdoings
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7. Civil Law
• Is in the control of the parties involved
rather than the government
– though the government makes the decisions
regarding the defendant’s punishment, the
plaintiff has control over charges filed and is
able to drop the case and charges whenever
he or she wants
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8. Civil Process
• Begins when the plaintiff files a lawsuit
stating what he or she wants done, such
as:
– ordering the defendant to pay damages
– prohibiting the defendant from coming near
them
– ordering the defendant to cease a certain
action
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9. Civil Procedure
• Begins when a person commits an offense
against any of the following types of civil
law:
– tort law
– contract law
– property law
– family law
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10. Tort Law
• Refers to the set of laws which provide
remedies to individuals who have been
injured by the wrongful acts of others
• Holds people liable for the consequences
of their actions, whether intentional or
accidental
– a victim can file a lawsuit against a person
who violated a tort law against them
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11. Tort Law
• Includes three categories:
– negligence
– intentional tort
– strict liability
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12. Negligence
• Refers to unintentional wrongdoing
• Occurs when a person acts with reckless
disregard of another person without intent
to cause harm
• Can include:
– a diver accidently running a stop sign
– a restaurant owner who mops the slippery
floor, does not put up a "wet floor" sign and a
customer slips
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13. Intentional Tort
• Refers to intentional wrongdoing
• Occurs when a person acts with intent to
cause harm or injury
• Can include:
– drunk driving
• driving under the influence of alcohol knowing
it poses a risk to others
– assault
• a physical attack on another
– fraud
• deceiving someone for financial or personal
gain
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14. Strict Liability
• Occurs when someone has a strict duty to
ensure something is safe
– holds a person or company legally
responsible for damages or injury
• Includes categories such as:
– animals owned or possessed
• a pet dog biting another person
– abnormally dangerous acts
• disposing of chemical waste
– product liability
• a manufacturer selling a defected product
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15. Contract Law
• Deals with agreements between two or
more parties, each of which is obligated to
hold up their portion of the agreement
• Protects transactions involving goods and
services
• States if a person breaks the terms of the
contract agreement they can be held
legally responsible
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16. Contract Law
• Can include a person being held liable for
goods and services under a contract
agreement such as:
– not completing a job
– not paying a bill in full or on time
– failure to deliver goods sold or promised
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17. Property Law
• Are laws which deal with property owned
by a person or entity
• Includes crimes such as:
– trespass
• entering another person’s property without
their consent
– conversion
• taking away another person’s property without
their consent
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18. Family Law
• Is the branch of civil
law dealing with
issues affecting
families such as:
– marriage
– divorce
– child custody
– adoption
– child support
• Includes laws which protect family
members against domestic violence
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19. Domestic Violence
• Refers to patterns of abusive behavior,
between adults in an intimate relationship,
used by one partner in order to gain or
maintain power of the other
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20. Civil Procedure
• Includes the following steps:
– pleading
– serving
– discovery
– trial
– verdict
– appeal
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21. Pleading
• Explains each party’s side of the dispute
• Provides the defendant with notice of the
factual and legal grounds for the plaintiff's
claims
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22. Pleading
• Describes:
– the defendant’s offense against the plaintiff
– the legal basis for holding the defendant
responsible
• Is formally delivered to the defendant
through a practice called delivery
– begins the lawsuit
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23. Serving
• Is the physical transfer of a legal
document from one person to another
• Is performed by process servers to legally
validate the transfer
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24. Process Servers
• Are individuals authorized by law to serve
legal documents
• Were originally only members of courts
and law enforcement, however, legislation
was written where others could become
process servers to relieve law
enforcement of some of the burden
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25. Process Servers
• Can include:
– law enforcement officers
– private process servers
• some states require process servers to be
licensed
• some states allow all persons over the age of
18 to be servers as long as they are not
involved with the case
• Are required to follow laws and regulations
when serving legal documents in order to
avoid abuse of service
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26. Abuse of Service
• Is the illegal use of civil service procedure
• Occurs when a process server fails to
follow required rules
• Includes laws which vary by jurisdiction
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27. Abuse of Service
• Includes:
– using excessive force
– serving legal papers to a person in which no
legal process has been initiated
– filing a false lawsuit in order to gain
information
– illegally forcing payment
– violating right to approach a residence
– entering private property through physical
boundaries
– harassing the person who is to be served
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28. Abuse of Service
• Includes serving people who lack the legal
capability to make competent decisions
regarding civil actions, such as:
– a person who suffers a mental illness
– children under the age of 18
• if these people are named in a lawsuit,
documents should be served to an appointed
person who is approved to make legal
decisions for them
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29. Process Servers
• May have to make multiple attempts to
deliver legal documents to the person’s
home or place of work if the person to be
served is absent
• Must get proof of service from the recipient
once the legal document has been
successfully delivered
• Deliver legal court documents in the form
of writs
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30. Writs
• Are written commands from the court to
act or abstain from acting in some way
• Administer civil law procedure
• Include types which require a person to
appear in court, such as:
– writ of summons
• an official order requiring someone to attend
court
– writ of subpoena
• commands the attendance in court, as a
witness, of the person on whom it is served,
under a penalty
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31. Discovery
• Is the act of both sides of the lawsuit
sharing information to learn strengths and
weaknesses within their cases before the
trial
– the parties ask each other and third parties for
information about the facts and issues of the
case
• Includes conducting depositions
– questioning and recording witnesses under
oath
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32. Trial
• Is the formal hearing of the case by the
judge and jury
• Includes:
– examining witnesses
– presenting evidence
– the plaintiff and defendant presenting their
arguments
• Includes a verdict about the case being
made by the judge and jury
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33. Verdict
• Is the official judgment stating the guilt or
liability of the defendant concerning the
issue in question
• In a civil case, gives the judge the power
to increase, decrease or make
modifications to the final verdict
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34. Verdict
• Usually results in the losing party being
required to provide compensation for
damages through the following civil
procedures:
– attachment
– claim
– warrants
– garnishment
– writ of injunction
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35. Attachment
• Is the seizing of money or property
• Is used to:
– seize specific property
– hold a person’s property until they pay off their
debt
• Is used to enforce property law
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36. Claim
• Is a legal demand of an asset or right
which one party owes another
• Includes a plaintiff suffering a loss from the
defendant and requesting for the
defendant to compensate for the loss
• Is typically taken to legally obtain:
– money
– property
– enforcement of a right provided by law
• Is used to enforce property law
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37. Warrants
• Are used in civil cases for matters of
repossessing property or monetary
judgment
• Are used by the plaintiff in order to
repossess wrongfully withheld personal
property
• Are used to enforce property law
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Monetary Judgment: a court order which awards a plaintiff a sum of money
38. Warrants
• Include types such as:
– dispossessory warrant
• used by a landlord for eviction
of a tenant
– warrant in debt
• used when a person sues
someone in court for money
owed to them
– bench warrant
• can be issued in a civil case when the
defendant violates a court order to appear
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39. Garnishment
• Is used to collect a debt from a third party
rather than directly from the defendant
– for example:
• a court can order the defendant’s employer to
withhold a certain amount of their wages for
payment of:
– child support
– student loans
– back taxes
• Is used to enforce family law
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40. Writ of Injunction
• Is an order which is required to restrain a
person from performing an act or going
near another person
• Is used to enforce family law
• Includes protective orders to prevent
domestic violence including:
– protective orders
– no-contact orders
– orders to pick up children
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41. Protective Orders
• Forbid a person from engaging in certain
activities which affect the victim, such as:
– prohibiting a person from contacting another
– requiring a person to move out of the home of
the victim
– requiring a person to keep a certain amount of
distance from the victim at all times
– awarding sole custody of children
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42. No-Contact Orders
• Prohibit a person from being in physical or
verbal contact with the victim, such as:
– calling
– texting
– e-mailing
– stalking
– attacking
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43. Orders to Pick Up Children
• Direct a law enforcement officer to take a
minor from the person who currently has
physical possession of the child and
deliver the minor to a person with legal
rights over the child
• Are requested when a person fears for a
child's safety
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44. Appeal
• Occurs when the losing party is
dissatisfied with the result of the case and
asks a higher court to reverse the decision
– there must be legal basis
• an alleged error in the trial or violation of
constitutional rights
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