|
Although there are many important details and rules regarding court processes, for our purposes it is sufficient to describe very broadly the procedures followed in an original civil action. An example of a civil action is an action for breach of contract, where one party to an agreement claims that the other party has not done what they promised.
A civil trial before a court is essentially concerned with resolving the issues (questions) that have arisen in the dispute between the plaintiff (the person bringing the action) and the defendant (the person who is defending the action). In Latin, the word for an issue is 'lis', from which we get the word 'litigation'.
Click on the list below for an explanation of what happens in a civil trial.
|