Tory
Really? How then, pray tell, do you explain the thousands of CIVIL suits brought each year demanding money damages from the defendants?
I was clarifying for SquirrelNuts that violation of city or county ordinances can be crimes.
Not a direct quote, but close enough from the CA Penal Code. I expect if you go to Black's Legal Dictionary you will find a similar definition of a crime:
A crime or public offense is an act committed or omitted in violation of an act prohibiting or commanding it, and upon conviction results in one or more of the following punishments:
1.) Death,
2.) Imprisonment,
3.) Fine,
4.) Removal from public office,
5.) Disqualification from holding any office of public trust or confidence.
If you lose money in a civil trial, it is because you were ordered to pay damages. If you lose money in a criminal trial, it is because you were fined in accordance with a criminal statute.
Fines are paid to the state. Civil damages are paid by the judgment debtor to the judgment creditor.
Failure to pay civil damages will not result in jail time. Failure to pay a fine is often another crime in itself.
Pilgrim
