Civil Law

Ordinarily, if someone is injured as a result of the intentional or negligent act of another, they can recover monetary damages to reimburse them for medical bills and injuries suffered. However, this is not always true when the person was injured while attacking someone else or attempting to steal from that person.

No person has a lawful right to lay hostile and menacing hands on another. However, the law does not require anyone to submit meekly to the unlawful infliction of violence upon him/her. A person may resist the use or threatened use of force upon him/her. A person may meet force with force, but he/she may use only such force as reasonably appears to him/her to be necessary under all the circumstances for the purpose of self-defense. One is not ordinarily expected to exercise the same refined degree of judgment at times of great stress or excitement that he/she would under calmer circumstances.

Civil law permits a person to sue another person for personal damages causing by that person's action or inaction. This includes suit for a violent attack, called an "intentional tort" under civil law. These intentional torts are almost identical to the illegal criminal attack discussed above and many use the same names, such as assault and battery, which mean the same in both criminal and civil law.