Every allegation carries a burden — the party who asserts must prove — and a standard — how sure the fact-finder must be. Criminal guilt must be proved by the prosecution beyond a reasonable doubt: not to absolute certainty, but far past 'probably guilty'. Civil claims are decided on the balance of probabilities: more likely than not, however narrowly.
The gap between the standards is deliberate — conviction carries punishment and stigma that a damages award does not — and it explains how the same events can produce an acquittal in criminal court and liability in civil court without contradiction.
Canadian juries are instructed that reasonable doubt lies 'much closer to absolute certainty than to proof on a balance of probabilities' (Lifchus, Starr) — and there is only one civil standard, a balance of probabilities, however serious the allegation (McDougall).