Basics of Criminal and Civil Law

What is Criminal Law?

By definition, criminal law is a system of law that is concerned with the punishment of offenders. It sets out the types of behaviour that are forbidden – going against these laws can risk serious punishment to the perpetrator. If someone were to break a criminal law, they are said to have offended against the state itself – this means that the state has the right to persecute people. In the UK, the “state” refers to the Queen.

When criminal laws are broken, there are a variety of criminal courts for the case to be heard at. These criminal courts are The High Court, The Magistrate’s Court, The Court of Appeal, The Crown Court, and The UK Supreme Court. The court that the case is heard at depends upon the case itself.

The most common cases that are dealt with in a criminal courtroom are drug-related cases, domestic violence cases, DUI cases, public intoxication, disorderly conduct cases, as well as assault and battery cases. Criminal offenses can come in the form of murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, and theft among dozens of other crimes. These crimes usually have at least one victim, but victims are not necessarily humans 100% of the time – companies and property can also be victims.

There is a large amount of personnel in these courts to make sure that the trial is held correctly and in a lawful way. Criminal court cases involve multiple key personnel, which includes a judge, magistrates, prosecutors, barristers, and occasionally a jury and/or a public gallery.

To get the final verdict for criminal offenses, the defendant and the court would provide evidence to push the rhetoric of their case and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that what they are saying is factual. This means that at the end of the trial, the defendant can either be convicted (found guilty) or acquitted (found innocent).

What is Civil Law?

Whilst criminal law aims to try and maintain law and order in society, civil law upholds and protects the rights of individuals. Civil law is concerned with issues among a community – for example, it may settle a dispute between an individual and a business.

When someone wishes to take a case to do with a breach of civil law to a court, they may go to The High Court, The Magistrate’s Court, The Court of Appeal, The County Court, The Family Court, or The UK Supreme Court depending on the severity of the claim that is being made. The way that a verdict is found in a civil court is by using evidence to find a balance of probability.

There are always two parties in a civil court case: the defendant, and the claimant. A judge oversees disputes that occur in civil courts – the judge is rarely joined by a jury in these situations, but on some occasions a jury may be called into the court to aid in finding a final verdict.

If the claimant is granted their claim, compensation will be given to the claimant for the damages that they have suffered. In a civil court, a claimant can only be awarded money for their damages – whereas the defendant in this case may receive a punishment on top of having to pay the claimant.

These court cases can be called for over a range of things including family issues (such as divorce settlements, child custody arrangements, and general finance issues), vicarious liability, and disputes between parties.