Difference between Civil and Criminal Liability

This is one of the fundamental topics when it comes to personal injury law. The reason for which is that it serves to navigate the major principle in this respective subject matter – the compensatory principle. However, the debate has a huge impact on personal injury law in the city of Orillia, which is part of the Ontario province. As per statutory regulations, the province can issue its’ own provisions which would take precedence over the ones of the government, provided they are not contradicting. This is done so that there is more particular and precise legal control over the different provinces. The idea is that if the legislator is closer to the problem, the latter would be properly solved. The solution is very fair and it is obviously working because some of the acts haven’t been amended since their consolidation which is the sign of stability and continuity.

Compensate the victim

However, the major principle in personal injury law is that it aims to compensate the victim as opposed to punishing the perpetrator. This is incredibly important because it is the main and most important differentiation between personal injury and criminal cases. The former are going to be mainly about ruling a sentence in which the award fully compensates the victim for his sufferings. On the other hand criminal cases actually seek physical legal punishment of the perpetrator, who is called a criminal. Perpetrators in personal injury law are not criminals because their doings are not crimes. It’s as simple as that. In order for a certain action to be classified as a crime it has to be breaching certain laws and to cause public threat. This is the fundamental difference between negligence and criminal behavior.

Negligent behavior on the other hand is also a breach of legal provisions but it’s only causing personal damages to a third party. This is why the intention behind personal injury cases is to compensate that third party for the sufferings that he had to go through. The solution is rather fair because there needs to be a clear differentiation between those two major institutes of the law.

This negligent behavior and the responsibility that comes with it is also referred to as civil liability and it is a basic and fundamental term in the field of personal injury law in Ontario and therefore in Orillia. However, it is possible for a certain negligent behavior to turn to a crime. In cases like this the personal injury lawsuit is going to be transformed into a criminal case and sent over to the respective authorities, which is the criminal court. The case is led by the prosecution, while the personal injury case is led by the victim. Hiring the right personal injury lawyer can ensure you maximum compensation, ensuring that you case is handled by professionals.