Page 29 - The Circle of Life
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Justice. This is important for you to remember because the court will protect you
against your soon to be ex's lawyers. They may bring you before court (we will
get to that) but they will not be able to humiliate you in the court as most (read
99.9%) of Judges or Magistrates will not allow such behaviour. They are very
correct men in the German sense of the word who expect and demand that
everyone in their courts stick to the rules of civil behaviour. Even the worst
mass-murderer of children is treated with respect and a lot of lee way.
This is important for the myth exists (it is created by Hollywood and the likes)
that the court is a place of utter humiliation and people need b-lls of steel to go
there. Yes, if you start lying to the court thing will get tough for you. No doubt,
for the search of justice is sometimes brutal. The process is fair though and I
assure you that you will get your chance to speak and to state your case in your
language of choice and be treated humanely. Thus the threat from the arrogant
ones of "seeing you in court" is very much an empty threat. Just make very sure
you get there on time and are dressed in your Sunday best suit and you have all
your documents with you.
The difference between Private Law and Criminal Law: It is rather
important that you understand the difference and is not rocket science. Private
Law is much more complicated and encompasses a much wider field than
criminal. If you look at a wall one hundred yards long and fifty feet high and you
take one brick out of that wall you have Criminal Law. The rest is Private Law
which divides in this country at least into Commercial Law which is everything to
do with business and Intellectual Property. Further it includes everything from
marriage to divorce to delict which translated to a wrongful act and known as
torts in other countries. All contracts fall under Private Law which is sometimes
referred to as civil cases. I deliberately don't use that word because it causes
confusion between the Civil Law Systems and the Common Law Systems we
discussed before.
The terminology is different between Criminal and Private Law. For instance in
Criminal Law we talk of the accused against the State with a State Prosecutor or
DA Office in American. This is where defense council comes in to act for the
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