Depending on which country you talk about it's either the Civil law, as in many European countries, where there are pre-written rules or common law where the decisions are made while judging cases - so UK and it's former colonies.
In civil law, the convicts do not necessarily have to face jail time since both parties involved could settle the case by making an arrangement outside the court of law. Example of civil law cases would be when a person violate a contract to do a certain job.
The alarm reaction stage refers to the initial symptoms the body experiences when under stress. The driver nearly hits her so her body entered in the alarm reaction stage. Then the resistance stage would occur and, lastly, the exhaustion stage.
