Civil Procedure and Civil Law
What this domain tests
Civil procedure and civil law test how private disputes move from claim to enforceable judgment, and the substantive rules of obligations, property, and liability that frame them. Expect questions on jurisdiction, pleadings, service, evidence disclosure, interim relief, trial, appeal, and preclusion, plus contract and tort basics.
Core rules and concepts
- A court needs subject-matter jurisdiction, territorial competence, and proper service before it can bind a defendant.
- The claimant bears the burden of proving each element on the balance of probabilities; the defendant bears evidential burdens for affirmative defenses.
- Pleadings must give fair notice of the case; amendments are usually allowed unless they cause irreparable prejudice or defeat a limitation period.
- Disclosure or discovery is proportional: relevance, materiality, burden, and confidentiality shape scope.
- Summary judgment is available only where there is no genuine dispute of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
- Res judicata bars relitigation of the same claim; issue estoppel bars relitigating a decided issue.
Worked example
A supplier sues for unpaid invoices. The buyer says the goods were defective. On summary judgment, the supplier shows signed delivery notes. The buyer produces an inspection report and emails complaining within days. There is a genuine factual dispute about conformity, so summary judgment should be refused; the case proceeds to trial. If the buyer had raised the same defect in an earlier successful claim, issue estoppel might bar it.
Traps
Treating service as a technicality; confusing burden of proof with burden of production; forgetting that a limitation defense must be pleaded; and assuming summary judgment resolves credibility.