Google Civil Justice and you will find your self on the Civil Justice in the district court web site , it is a good place to start .
The web site simplified the definition of Civil law to be ” Civil justice relates to disputes between individuals or organisations. Generally, civil cases are not about breaking a criminal law. For example, they could include disputes over business contracts or debts, or disputes between neighbours.”
On the other hand Civil Justice in our definition is anything which is before the courts and is not of a criminal nature.
Criminal cases in New Zealand are prefixed CRN so anything before the court in a disputes or any other tribunal, Family court , insolvency court District court and and High Court which is not prefixed CRN is the law that we concern ourselves with.
There is a gross disparity between civil law and criminal law and this has to do with rights , Criminals have rights which those who appear before the civil courts do not have .
On the justice web site about Civil Law there is a short list of differences between civil and criminal law
This list does not reflect the reality which is experienced by the victims of the civil court. I say victims because the civil court in New Zealand is frequently used as an abuse of process . It is used to obtain assets which if they were to be obtained through any other means would be considered a criminal act . Civil law is used to pervert the course of justice , we have a very good case study to show that if you commit a criminal offence you can actually get away with it by attacking some one through the civil jurisdiction.. it will cause every enforcement agency to back off and you can get away with your crime and on to p of it be well rewarded for your efforts, but more ont hat later.
Listen to any one who has been on the other end of civil proceedings, you may well say sour grapes.. but in each and every case the issue is the same. the lack of truth, the lack of evidence and the ability of money to buy what it wants.
Lawyers are around $300-500 per hour the average person does not have that sum to spare per month. There are many lawyers who are simply cowboys and do not represent your best interest and then there is the issue of lack of truth.
Civil Justice has been set up to implement change to bring the victims of the civil law together for support and help predict what the next dirty tactic ill be so that it can be preempted and the effect minimized.
It is about the right to justice , justice which the current adversarial system cannot achieve , justice which an inquisitorial system supports.
It is about lobbying to get rights at least the same as criminals enjoy and above all to ensure that those who commit perjury, no matter who they are prosecuted.
Not one of us can do this on our own. Civil Justice is to be the vehicle which will bring the cogs together, Will you come on board and assist, we all have our part to play and your role is waiting for you.