Criminal Law v. Civil Law

Criminal law is the body of law that defines criminal offenses, regulates the apprehension, charging, and trial of suspected ofTenders, and that establishes punishment imposed on convicted persons. Executive branch oflicials have the power to enforce criminal laws. People who violate these laws may be apprehended by police and tried in a court of law. If convicted, they face the punishment prescribed by the trial court. Criminal law assumes that society itself or the public is the victim of a crime. Therefore, the government prosecutes on behalf of an injured party (acting as a piaindfif) in criminal cases.

Crimes arc graded as felonies, misdemeanors, or offenses, according to their severity. Some acts 一 for example, murder, rape, and robbery — are considered crimes in all states. Other acts — such as some forms of gambling — arc illegal only in some states. Although all states outlaw murder, their criminal codes treat the crime quite differently; the penalty for murder differs considerably from state to state.

Civil law has two meanings in the United States. One meaning refers to a legal system prevalent in Europe that is based on written codes. Civil law in this sense is contrasted with the common-law system used in England and most of the United States, which relies on prior case law to resolve disputes rather than written codes. The other meaning of civil law refers to the body of laws governing disputes between individuals, as opposed to those governing oiTenses against the government or the public, that is, criminal law. The second meanii^ is what is meant in this section.

The law of property, contract law, family law, and administrative law pertain to civil law. Civil law chiefly regulates the conduct and relationships between private individuals or corporations. In a dvil action，one party takes legal action against another party to seek relief in a court of law for an alleged wrong. Because the actions at issue in dvil law do not constitute a threat to society at large, people who believe they have been injured by another party must take action on their own to seek judicial relief. Civil cases, then, involve lawsuits filed to recover something of value, whether it is the right to vote, fair treatment, or monetary compensation for an item or service.

Public Law v. Private Law

Public law is that area of constitutional, administrative’ criminal, and international law that focuses on the organization of the government, the relations between the state and its ddzens, the responsibilities of government officials, and the relations between states. It is concerned with political matters, including the powers, rights, capacities, and dudes of various levels of government and government officials. Public law includes regulatory statutes, penal law and other law of public order.

As opposed to public law that refers to an act that deals with society as a whole and involves interrelations between the state and the gncral population, a private law concerns private individual rights, dudes, and liabilities, and involves interactions between private citizens. Generally speaking, private law is the area of law in a society that ailccts the relationships between individuals or groups without the intervention of the state or government. When Congress acts to aid a specific individual, family, or other small group, it passes a private law. Private law includes contract law，property law, family law, labor law, etc.

What is worth notice is that the distinction between what is public and what is private in the law is often a hazy one. Many consumer protection laws arc of a public law nature, which limits the ability of companies to engage in transactions that fail to rcspea the rights of consumers. Most laws that impose criminal penalties are considered public law, as these laws are intended to protect all members of society.

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