Civil responsibility

The civil responsibility is one of the branches of the Droit. She is opposed to the criminal responsibility and subdivides in Responsabilité extra contractual and contractual Liability

This distinction, strong in the Civil code French of 1804, has less of importance in the Anglo-Saxon right, Common law, which knows the exemplary Damages.

Civil responsibility and penal

Civil

The goal of the civil responsibility is to compensate a damage. The courts of competent jurisdiction are the civil jurisdictions and the action of responsibility belongs to the person who suffered the damage.

To obtain repair of its damage, it is necessary to bring the proof of a Faute, a damage or Dommage and of a bond of causality between the two preceding conditions. A person can however exonerate her responsibility by showing that the damage comes from a case of major force or fact even of the victim or from a third.

Penal

The criminal responsibility returns to the punishment or the amendment of the culprit. The strict principles of the criminal Law apply and can lead to the judgment of the defendant to a sorrow (amends, loss of liberty for example). This sorrow is distinguished from the allowance for damages of the civil responsibility.

Only the penal courts are qualified and the action belongs to the Public ministry, representative of the interests of the company.

Consequence and articulation

When a person makes an offense causing a damage (aggravated assault for example) its liabilities civil and penal are committed. In fact the penal courts will judge the two businesses. The victim can claim only the compensation (civil responsibility) and does not have anything to ask concerning the sorrow (criminal responsibility).

This distinction is sometimes badly lived for the victim which has, to be rebuilt, plus need to see its guilty and condemned attacker found (penal) to be made refund its hospital expenses (civilian).

A legal proverb recalls that " the criminal holds the civilian in the état" , which means that for the same business subjected to two jurisdictions, the civil judge must follow the decision of the penal judge while ruling on the purely civil slope of the litigation. Consequently, the civil judge must postpone to rule (to wait) as long as the penal judge did not decide.

Contractual and extracontractuelle liability

Distinction

It is necessary to distinguish two types of civil responsibilities:

criminal or extra-contractual Responsibility (which breaks pay)
the contractual Liability (which begins must be carried out), relative thus as its name indicates it to the Contrat S

Articulation of the two responsibilities

In France

In French jurisprudence, they are completely exclusive one of the other.

As from the moment when there exists a contractual bond (this was a simple ticket of transport), one cannot call upon the criminal responsibility, even in the event of fault.

On the other hand, in spite of certain doctrinal opinions (" groups of contract ") the principle of the relative effect of the contracts with regard to the thirds continues to apply: the victims of a damage could not call upon usefully articles 1382 and following French Civil code if they themselves are not bound by contract with the person in charge of the damage.

In Belgium

In Belgian jurisprudence, a person can call upon the criminal responsibility for her contracting under certain conditions.

The civil responsibility and risk management

The engagement of civil responsibility or penal, must be taken into account in the identification of the Risque S of a Organization, and be integrated in the step of Risk management.

One can quote for example the following types of civil responsibility:

Civil responsibility exploitation
Civil responsibility produced defective
Civil responsibility pollution
Civil responsibility owner building
Civil responsibility owner of building
Civil responsibility social agent
rental Civil responsibility
automobile Civil responsibility

Random links: