Editing Burden of proof (law) (section)

=== Civil law ===
In [[Civil law (common law)|civil law]] cases, such as a dispute over a contract or a claim about an accidental [[Personal injury|injury]], the burden of proof usually requires the plaintiff to convince the trier of fact (whether judge or jury) of the plaintiff's entitlement to the relief sought. This means that the plaintiff must prove each element of the claim, or cause of action, in order to recover.

This rule is not absolute in civil lawsuits; unlike with criminal offenses, laws may establish a different burden of proof, or the burden in an individual case may be reversed as a matter of fairness.<ref name="schaffer" />  For example, if a bank or government agency has a [[legal duty]] to keep certain records, and a lawsuit alleges that the proper records were not kept, then the plaintiff may not be required to [[Evidence of absence|prove a negative]]; instead, the respondent could be required to prove to the court that the records were kept.