 As an area of private law, tort law also differs procedurally from other areas of law. Unlike a criminal case in which the standard of proof is “beyond a reasonable doubt”, the plaintiff in a tort action must only establish that it is more probable than not that the defendant satisfied each of the elements of the tort. In the United States, tort cases are heard before civil juries. In the rest of the common law world, civil juries in tort actions for anything other than defamation are unusual; in these jurisdictions cases are decided before a judge. In virtually all jurisdictions the vast majority of tort litigation is settled before coming to trial.