Definition of civil law
1
: Roman law especially as set forth in the Justinian code
2
: the body of private law developed from Roman law and used in Louisiana and in many countries outside the English-speaking world
3
: the law established by a nation or state for its own jurisdiction
4
: the law of civil or private rights
Examples of civil law in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The Holy See would be loath to be seen as interfering in a criminal trial, and typically defers all comment, as well as the outcome of its own investigations, until after all investigations by civil law enforcement are completed. — Washington Post, "Trial for priests accused of abusing deaf Argentine students," 5 Aug. 2019 And at least 12 states have civil laws that pertain specifically to nonconsensual image sharing. — Sandra Gonzalez, CNN, "Whitney Cummings shuts down efforts to extort her over photo," 12 Aug. 2019 However, on Tuesday night, Buttigieg walked back his response from last month, saying the legality of border crossing should instead be handled under civil law rather than criminal law. — Rebecca Morin, USA TODAY, "Health care and CNN's rules are among the winners and losers of Tuesday's Democratic debate," 30 July 2019 Donnelly, said the termination of parental rights should be considered the equivalent of the death penalty in civil law. — Elise Schmelzer, The Denver Post, "A Colorado war veteran lost parental rights to her children through a rarely-scrutinized legal process. Now she’s asking the state Supreme Court to intercede.," 20 July 2019 As for children born out of wedlock, courts, especially those operating in the civil law tradition, deduced paternity from a man’s actions or public reputation. — The Conversation, oregonlive.com, "Who’s is your daddy? It’s not all about DNA," 16 June 2019 There is one noteworthy omission: federal asset forfeiture petitions, which are handled through the U.S. Attorney’s office and subjected to a separate set of civil laws. — Annie Sciacca, The Mercury News, "From 2015 to ’18, Contra Costa cops seized $1.1 million from people not charged with a crime," 14 June 2019 Absent the appropriate corporate structures and legal walls under civil law, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris ruled that victims did have a right to pursue parish assets. — Tom Corrigan, WSJ, "Catholic Church Used Bankruptcy for Sexual-Assault Cases. Now Others Are Following Suit.," 27 Dec. 2018 Criminal law and civil law feature different burdens of proof. — Michael Mccann, SI.com, "Could Gareon Conley Legally Prove That Rape Allegation Caused Draft Slide, Financial Harm?," 12 July 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'civil law.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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